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Environment

A Fraction Of Plants Produce Most CO2

by Jeff Johnson
September 16, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 37

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Georgia Power’s Scherer plant is the largest U.S. coal-fired electricity-generating facility.
Aerial photo of Robert W Scherer Power Plant coal-fired power plant in Juliette, Ga., just north of Macon, Ga.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Georgia Power’s Scherer plant is the largest U.S. coal-fired electricity-generating facility.

Of 6,000 U.S. electricity-generating facilities, 50 power plants emit nearly one-third of all carbon dioxide from the U.S. power sector, according to a report released last week. The study by Environment America Research & Policy Center, an environmental group, says that although these coal-fired plants generated 30% of power-sector CO2 in 2011, they produced only about 16% of U.S. electricity. The report identifies Georgia Power’s Robert W. Scherer Plant, located just north of Macon, Ga., as the largest CO2 emitter, generating 21 million metric tons in 2011. In response, company officials point out that the facility is also the nation’s largest coal-fired power plant, producing the most electricity. The company has spent $2 billion in environmental upgrades since the plant began operating 40 years ago, a Georgia Power spokesman says. The report notes that Scherer and similar facilities will be the focus of a government regulation to limit CO2 emissions from existing plants, which is expected to be proposed in June 2014. Overall, U.S. power plants are responsible for 41% of the nation’s CO2 pollution.

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