The Effects of the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant

SHIPPINGPORT, PA - SEPTEMBER 11: Paul Lampe checks the freshly picked potatoes grown in his back yard as smoke and steam vapor pour out of the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant overlooking his home on September 11, 2008 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. The 2460 MW coal-fired plant in western Pennsylvania is one of the 12 biggest carbon dioxide polluting power plants in the U.S. emitting 17.4 million tons annually. Discharged coal soot regularly falls in the area and is known to contain toxic materials, arsenic, lead and mercury. Two separate heavy discharges in 2006 and 2007 sent large amounts of soot and fly ash over a wide area causing grass, hay and vegetable garden contamination, farm animal sickness and death and a few local's hair to fall out. A local newspaper's investigation revealed Bruce Mansfield has been consistently violating an air permit emission standard called "opacity" since 1998 and is categorized as a "high-priority" violator by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Opacity standards are extremely important because they monitor for harmful fine particulate pollution, which contributes to asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases and premature death. The power plant's owners, FirstEnergy Generation Corp., have paid nearly $1 million in related fines. Globally, power generation emits nearly 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. The U.S., with over 8,000 power plants out of 50,000 worldwide, accounts for nearly 25% of that total or 2.8 billion tons. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)