Hunter Power Plant

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Hunter Power Plant is an operating power station of at least 1577-megawatts (MW) in Castle Dale, Emery, Utah, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Hunter Power Plant Castle Dale, Emery, Utah, United States 39.173339, -111.028911 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 39.173339, -111.028911

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology Start year Retired year
Unit 1 operating coal - subbituminous 525 subcritical 1978 2031 (planned)
Unit 2 operating coal - subbituminous 525 subcritical 1980 2032 (planned)
Unit 3 operating coal - subbituminous 527.2 subcritical 1983 2032 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner
Unit 1 PacifiCorp [93.75%], Provo City Corp [6.25%]
Unit 2 PacifiCorp [60.31%], Deseret Generation and Transmission Cooperative [25.1%], Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) [14.59%]
Unit 3 PacifiCorp [100.0%]

Financing

Background

In 2016, the Hunter power station and the Huntington power station were subject to an Environmental Protection Agency plan requiring the plants to slash emissions. The projects were targeted because of their impact on visibility at the Grand Canyon National Park, along with five other nearby national parks. The plan was cut by President Donald Trump.[5]

In November 2022, the Biden Administration chose to co-sign the Trump Administration's decision, to great fury from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club. PacifiCorp successfully argued that upgrades at the power station would be economically inefficient.[5]

In its March 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, PacifiCorp announced it would close the Hunter Power Plant by 2032.[6]

Emissions Data

  • 2006 CO2 Emissions: 10,703,732 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions: 7,338 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
  • 2006 NOx Emissions: 18,829 tons
  • 2005 Mercury Emissions: 148 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hunter Power Plant

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[7] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[8]

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Hunter Power Plant

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 12 $86,000,000
Heart attacks 18 $2,000,000
Asthma attacks 260 $14,000
Hospital admissions 8 $190,000
Chronic bronchitis 8 $3,700,000
Asthma ER visits 10 $4,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Pacificorp 10-k 2019" bkenergy.com accessed June 17,2020
  2. "Integrated Resource Plan, Five Year Plan, page 24" umpa.energy, accessed October 18, 2020
  3. "Deseret Power" deseretpower.com, accessed October 18, 2020
  4. "Projects" uamps.com, accessed October 18, 2020.
  5. 5.0 5.1 "EPA backs Trump-era plan for air pollution in Mountain West," Greenwire, November 18, 2022
  6. "Why is Rocky Mountain Power closing its Utah coal plants? Here’s what we know," Salt Lake Tribune, March 31, 2023
  7. "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
  8. "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.