TVA's John Sevier power plant

Ed Marcum at the KNS reports some big news from a TVA press conference yesterday: TVA is idling nine coal-fired power generators at its John Sevier, Shawnee, and Widows Creek power plants.

This is a pretty big deal as a follow up to the board's announcement last week that they intend to focus less on coal and more on nuclear and efficiency going forward.

The changes will result in some significant reductions in air pollution without costing ratepayers anything. Based on TVA data about the facilities (and assuming my math is correct), it will reduce TVA's overall annual emissions by roughly:

• Sulfur dioxide: 11% (22,546 tons)
• Nitrogen oxides: 11% (6428 tons)
• Carbon dioxide 9% (11.3 million tons)

It will reduce TVA's daily coal consumption by approx. 6.7 million tons (9%), which also means corresponding reductions in toxic emissions such as mercury.

According to the KNS report and TVA's press release, the decision is based on the fact that these facilities, some of TVA's dirtiest, have not yet been outfitted with scrubbers and it would cost too much to bring them into compliance.

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