Earlier this year a plan was announced that would bring coal to the power plant near Popes Creek via barge from South America instead of CSX rail from West Virginia. CSX countered by saying it would have to consider abandoning the line if this happened. The plant produces a great deal of pollution and the coal via barge would reduce it. Charles County has grown substantially in recent years and many would be delighted to see the railroad gone and no longer blocking grade crossings.
Do not be surprised if this becomes a reality and if cessation of operations on this line is greeted with applause by the locals.
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Mirant Plan Would Send Coal Up the Potomac
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 16, 2006; SM01
Officials at Charles County's only commercial power plant detailed their proposal this week to build a 600-foot-long barge unloading facility in the Potomac River that would be capable of receiving 5 million tons of coal per year.
The Morgantown Generating Station in Newburg, Charles County's largest taxpayer, relies on northern Appalachian coal that arrives in train cars to power steam turbines that produce electricity. But officials from Mirant Mid-Atlantic, which owns the power plant, said they want to change the way the coal is transported and to begin using river barges to bring in coal from as far away as South America.
In a presentation to the Charles County commissioners at the plant Tuesday, Mirant officials described their desire to switch to cheaper coal with fewer polluting characteristics and to end the plant's dependence on the railroad lines. About 2.5 million tons of coal a year are carried over CSX tracks to the Morgantown plant.
Tom Graves, Mirant's manager of fuels, told the commissioners that the softer coal found in northern Appalachia produces emissions with a higher sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide content than other potential sources and that the Appalachian coal is in dwindling supply. Using coal with less sulfur could reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 50 percent, officials said.
The cost of coal has more than doubled over the past five years, and the cost of buying the emissions allowances needed to use it has increased up to sixfold in that period, he said.
"The proposed project will allow for competition in the delivery of coal to the generating stations and ensure that Mirant is no longer captive to [CSX] for its needed coal delivery," Mirant officials said in a brief filed last year with the Maryland Public Service Commission, outlining the plan.
"It will eventually eliminate 300 trains per year through La Plata," Graves said. "That's a significant reduction."
During the hearing process last year before the Public Service Commission, CSX opposed the plan to bring in coal on barges. CSX said in a filing it would lose revenue by reducing the volume of coal shipped and "could be forced to consider curtailment of operations and may even have to seek abandonment of the rail lines which service not only Mirant's Morgantown and Chalk Point power plants, but also the other current and future Charles County and Prince George's County businesses located along the affected lines of railroad."
CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said this week that the company is in discussions with Mirant about future service and would not comment on those discussions.
The unloading facility would be built 500 feet offshore and include a six-foot-wide dock on steel pilings, a 50-by-42-foot platform, a mechanical unloader capable of handling 1,200 tons of coal per hour, a system of conveyers to transport the coal back to shore and a rail car loading facility, Mirant officials said. Coal unloaded at Morgantown would be taken by rail to Mirant's Chalk Point plant in Prince George's County, just across Swanson Creek from Charles.
Graves said the unloading facility would be served annually by about 180 to 250 coal barges -- each carrying about 14,000 tons of coal up the river. Mirant plans to file for Charles County permits for the process in the next 60 to 90 days, begin construction by the end of this year and be in operation by 2008, Graves said.
According to a draft of an environmental review of the project by the state Department of Natural Resources, officials expected minimal impact to wildlife and water quality. The adverse impacts described in the draft generally involved disrupting views.
The proposed facility "will mark the first industrial intrusion onto the water's surface anywhere within view. Extending nearly 1,000 feet, the facility will stretch from the shore to the easternmost edge of the river's dredged channel, at heights as great as 40 feet," according to the draft of the environmental review.
Before Tuesday's meeting, the county commissioners and other government officials toured the power plant. Equipped with yellow hard hats and protective glasses, the officials saw the steam-powered turbines, the glowing furnace and the control room where computer screens record the constantly changing levels of such measures as the price of electricity and the opacity of the gases released from the 700-foot-tall stacks. The Morgantown plant burns about 10,000 tons of coal a day, officials said.
Commissioners President Wayne Cooper (D-At Large) said the pollution from the barges probably would be less than that from the rail cars because the uncovered trains can leak coal onto the tracks.
The double-hulled barges also would be uncovered.
Commissioner Candice Quinn Kelly (R-La Plata) said she wants to keep an open mind about the project.
"Obviously, nobody wants to see that kind of barge right there in the middle of a body of water that you love. It just changes everything," she said. "But I think we have to all recognize . . . we need electricity, and we need to find ways of generating it that protects the environment and is cost effective."
"We're not going to be business unfriendly," she added. "But in order to do business here, you're going to have to be environmentally friendly. I think it can be done."
During Tuesday's presentation, Mirant officials also discussed steps they have taken to improve water quality at the Faulkner Fly Ash Storage Facility, where some of the byproducts of the burned coal are stored, six miles north of Morgantown. A five-year extension of an operating permit for the ash facility is under review by the county board of appeals, and some residents have been critical of the site because they are concerned about chemicals leaching into the groundwater and affecting the Zekiah Swamp. Mirant officials described the elaborate treatment of runoff from the site, a process designed to preserve the environmental quality of the area.
Larry Garner, Mirant's group leader of fuel and ash, who manages the 950-acre Faulkner site, said that all test results for mercury from 2002 to 2004 were below regulatory limits and that the state Department of the Environment said the company does not have to test anymore for mercury.
Mirant officials also outlined a plan known as a "selective catalytic reduction project," intended to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the power plant. The new system, estimated to cost $150 million, is projected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, said project manager Steve Dean.
Nitrogen oxide compounds contribute to the formation of ozone and acid rain.
"We're under the gun," he said. "We've got to get this done for the good of the region."
Do not be surprised if this becomes a reality and if cessation of operations on this line is greeted with applause by the locals.
======================
Mirant Plan Would Send Coal Up the Potomac
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 16, 2006; SM01
Officials at Charles County's only commercial power plant detailed their proposal this week to build a 600-foot-long barge unloading facility in the Potomac River that would be capable of receiving 5 million tons of coal per year.
The Morgantown Generating Station in Newburg, Charles County's largest taxpayer, relies on northern Appalachian coal that arrives in train cars to power steam turbines that produce electricity. But officials from Mirant Mid-Atlantic, which owns the power plant, said they want to change the way the coal is transported and to begin using river barges to bring in coal from as far away as South America.
In a presentation to the Charles County commissioners at the plant Tuesday, Mirant officials described their desire to switch to cheaper coal with fewer polluting characteristics and to end the plant's dependence on the railroad lines. About 2.5 million tons of coal a year are carried over CSX tracks to the Morgantown plant.
Tom Graves, Mirant's manager of fuels, told the commissioners that the softer coal found in northern Appalachia produces emissions with a higher sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide content than other potential sources and that the Appalachian coal is in dwindling supply. Using coal with less sulfur could reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 50 percent, officials said.
The cost of coal has more than doubled over the past five years, and the cost of buying the emissions allowances needed to use it has increased up to sixfold in that period, he said.
"The proposed project will allow for competition in the delivery of coal to the generating stations and ensure that Mirant is no longer captive to [CSX] for its needed coal delivery," Mirant officials said in a brief filed last year with the Maryland Public Service Commission, outlining the plan.
"It will eventually eliminate 300 trains per year through La Plata," Graves said. "That's a significant reduction."
During the hearing process last year before the Public Service Commission, CSX opposed the plan to bring in coal on barges. CSX said in a filing it would lose revenue by reducing the volume of coal shipped and "could be forced to consider curtailment of operations and may even have to seek abandonment of the rail lines which service not only Mirant's Morgantown and Chalk Point power plants, but also the other current and future Charles County and Prince George's County businesses located along the affected lines of railroad."
CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said this week that the company is in discussions with Mirant about future service and would not comment on those discussions.
The unloading facility would be built 500 feet offshore and include a six-foot-wide dock on steel pilings, a 50-by-42-foot platform, a mechanical unloader capable of handling 1,200 tons of coal per hour, a system of conveyers to transport the coal back to shore and a rail car loading facility, Mirant officials said. Coal unloaded at Morgantown would be taken by rail to Mirant's Chalk Point plant in Prince George's County, just across Swanson Creek from Charles.
Graves said the unloading facility would be served annually by about 180 to 250 coal barges -- each carrying about 14,000 tons of coal up the river. Mirant plans to file for Charles County permits for the process in the next 60 to 90 days, begin construction by the end of this year and be in operation by 2008, Graves said.
According to a draft of an environmental review of the project by the state Department of Natural Resources, officials expected minimal impact to wildlife and water quality. The adverse impacts described in the draft generally involved disrupting views.
The proposed facility "will mark the first industrial intrusion onto the water's surface anywhere within view. Extending nearly 1,000 feet, the facility will stretch from the shore to the easternmost edge of the river's dredged channel, at heights as great as 40 feet," according to the draft of the environmental review.
Before Tuesday's meeting, the county commissioners and other government officials toured the power plant. Equipped with yellow hard hats and protective glasses, the officials saw the steam-powered turbines, the glowing furnace and the control room where computer screens record the constantly changing levels of such measures as the price of electricity and the opacity of the gases released from the 700-foot-tall stacks. The Morgantown plant burns about 10,000 tons of coal a day, officials said.
Commissioners President Wayne Cooper (D-At Large) said the pollution from the barges probably would be less than that from the rail cars because the uncovered trains can leak coal onto the tracks.
The double-hulled barges also would be uncovered.
Commissioner Candice Quinn Kelly (R-La Plata) said she wants to keep an open mind about the project.
"Obviously, nobody wants to see that kind of barge right there in the middle of a body of water that you love. It just changes everything," she said. "But I think we have to all recognize . . . we need electricity, and we need to find ways of generating it that protects the environment and is cost effective."
"We're not going to be business unfriendly," she added. "But in order to do business here, you're going to have to be environmentally friendly. I think it can be done."
During Tuesday's presentation, Mirant officials also discussed steps they have taken to improve water quality at the Faulkner Fly Ash Storage Facility, where some of the byproducts of the burned coal are stored, six miles north of Morgantown. A five-year extension of an operating permit for the ash facility is under review by the county board of appeals, and some residents have been critical of the site because they are concerned about chemicals leaching into the groundwater and affecting the Zekiah Swamp. Mirant officials described the elaborate treatment of runoff from the site, a process designed to preserve the environmental quality of the area.
Larry Garner, Mirant's group leader of fuel and ash, who manages the 950-acre Faulkner site, said that all test results for mercury from 2002 to 2004 were below regulatory limits and that the state Department of the Environment said the company does not have to test anymore for mercury.
Mirant officials also outlined a plan known as a "selective catalytic reduction project," intended to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the power plant. The new system, estimated to cost $150 million, is projected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, said project manager Steve Dean.
Nitrogen oxide compounds contribute to the formation of ozone and acid rain.
"We're under the gun," he said. "We've got to get this done for the good of the region."
