For Immediate Release
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Contact: Dan Millis, Sierra Club, dan.millis@sierraclub.org (520) 620-6401
Oscar Medina, Tierra Y Libertad Organization, oscarmedinagomez@gmail.com (520) 903-8005
Last Day of Coal Pollution Marks Step toward Cleaner Air and Energy in Tucson
Tucson Electric Power’s Sundt Plant to Burn Last Remaining Coal Today; TEP Still Majority Coal
TUCSON, AZ – Tucsonans will breathe easier starting tomorrow, as Tucson Electric Power says they have burned the last bits of remaining usable coal today at its electric generating plant on Tucson’s south side.
The H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station, located on the corner of Irvington and Alvernon, is one of five coal plants in TEP’s generation fleet. The plant has no pollution controls for the coal combustion byproduct sulfur dioxide, a harmful gas that reduces visibility and contributes to health problems.
The Union of Concerned Scientists included TEP’s Sundt plant in its 2012 Ripe for Retirement report, saying it was one of a list of generating stations found to be “old, inefficient, dirty, and no longer economically competitive.” The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a report in which the Sundt plant was ranked among the nation’s 15 worst environmental justice performers.
Built in 1967, the Sundt plant ranked 13th worst in the NAACP’s environmental justice performance ranking. The report noted that the median income of the 56,609 people who live within three miles of the plant is $10,258, and 74.7% are people of color. According to a 2010 study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, pollution from coal combustion at the plant causes 68 asthma attacks, 6 heart attacks, and 4 deaths every year.
In 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found the plant to be out of compliance with the Clean Air Act, and recommended TEP install industry-standard pollution controls. In early 2014, TEP and the EPA agreed on a plan to switch the plant’s fuel source from coal to gas by the end of 2017, a move that would result in lower costs for TEP and less air pollution than the EPA’s recommended plan.
“This is a win for public health in Tucson, especially for those who live near the plant, and it will lessen our community’s impact on climate change,” stated Dan Millis of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. “It also will help the air quality at our national parks and wilderness areas. However, Tucsonans want clean, renewable, locally-generated power from solar and wind, not a utility that is 91 percent fossil fuels. We would like to see TEP take the next step to becoming a clean energy utility.”
Oscar Medina, a school teacher at Changemaker High School and Community Organizer with Tierra Y Libertad Organization, said, “TEP's announcement to end the burning of coal at the Sundt Generating Station in south Tucson is an example of the impact that local grassroots efforts, green businesses, and national campaigns can have on profit-driven corporations that harm the health of our community. We will not rest until the future of our children is sustainable with clean and renewable energy.”
TEP officials say a large black pile of unusable coal mixed with dirt and clay will remain on sight at the Sundt plant until the company can dispose of it in a landfill, possibly at TEP’s coal ash dump near the Springerville Generating Station.
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