Contributions like this from fossil fuel companies to members of Congress are often seen as a political barrier to pursuing clean energy. More information on coal industry contributions to Congress can be found at FollowtheCoalMoney. In response to demands from environmentalists as well as Senator Barbara Boxer D-California , chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, the EPA made public a list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal waste dumps.
The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not include an assessment of the likelihood of such an event. Progress Energy owns two of the sites, both of which store coal combustion waste for the Asheville Plant located in North Carolina. The breach, which sent clay and dry ash cascading down to the toe of the raised embankment, is an estimated 8 feet deep and about 22 feet wide. An estimated 10 cubic yards of coal ash covering an acre was released.
Spokesman Scott Sutton said crews found the damage, which they initially thought was a sinkhole, late Monday night while inspecting the dam: "It basically carved out about 9 feet off the top of the dam, so its not a total breach or collapse. A permanent fix will then be designed and installed. The breach in one of the Sutton Plant's two unlined coal-ash ponds came as federal and state regulators are taking a new look at whether to reclassify coal ash as a hazardous material under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
According to the N. Division of Water Quality, other industries also had difficulties handling the monsoon-like rainfall. Fortron Industries, DAK Americas, Invista, and the New Hanover County landfill all reported stormwater overwhelming their treatment and storage systems, with some reporting the runoff escaping into the wetlands and waters of the Cape Fear River.
In October , Appalachian Voices released an analysis of monitoring data from coal waste ponds at 13 coal plants in North Carolina. The study revealed that all of them are contaminating ground water with toxic pollutants, in some cases with over times the allowable levels according to state standards.
The contaminants include the toxic metals arsenic , cadmium , chromium , and lead , which can cause cancer and neurological disorders. The study was based on data submitted by Progress and Duke Energy to state regulators. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources is attempting to confirm the results before determining whether current state law can mandate corrective action. On February 24, , the attorney for Florida's utility customers announced a case against Progress Energy, alleging that the company owes its 1.
According to Public Counsel J. Kelly, Progress could have avoided extra costs by burning less expensive coal, but the company failed to secure a permit to do so. Hearings will begin in April, and a decision should come in June Out of its total 28, MW of electric generating capacity in 2.
In December , Progress Energy Florida announced it will close two of the state's worst polluting coal-fired generators when its new Levy County nuclear plant is up and running in The company said the closure of two units at its Crystal River Energy Complex in Citrus County represents the equivalent of removing , vehicles from Florida's roads. The decision follows months of talks with state officials, including Gov. Crist has hoped to reduce state carbon dioxide emissions to the level by The scheduled closure of the two Crystal River plants means the company would be 60 percent of the way toward the governor's goal, according to Progress Energy officials.
Independent studies have listed the two coal plants among the nation's top 50 polluters. Two coal-fired power generators will remain in operation at the Citrus County site, as will a nuclear reactor. The company is seeking regulatory approval to build a new natural gas-fired plant at the site. As proposed, the new plant would increase generation capacity at the site by about megawatts, while still reducing overall emissions, including carbon dioxide.
On December 1, , Progress announced that by the end of it would permanently close all of its North Carolina coal plants without sulfur dioxide scrubbers. The 11 units at L. Sutton , Cape Fear , Weatherspoon , and Lee total almost 1, megawatts and represent about a third of the utility's coal-fired power generation in N. The retirement plan includes the following:. The closure plan was filed in response to a request by the N. Utilities Commission, which ordered Progress to provide its retirement schedule for "unscrubbed" coal-fired units in North Carolina.
The request was a condition of the commission's approval of Progress' plan to close Lee and build a MW natural gas plant at the site. After the merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy , Progress Energy Carolinas announced in July that it would be accelerating the closing of the Robinson Unit 1 coal plant by October , but it would remain online through the summer season to help meet heightened electricity demand.
The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste. ACAA set up a front group called Citizens for Recycling First , which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary. Progress Energy owned 23 coal-fired generating stations in , with 7, MW of capacity. Here is a list of Progress Energy's coal power plants: [23] [32] [33].
In , Progress Energy's 9 coal-fired power plants emitted CO 2 emissions and , tons of SO 2 1. SO 2 emissions. On December 1, , Progress Energy announced that by it will be shutting down all of its coal-fired power plants that do not have flue-gas desulfurization controls scrubbers. In all, four plants will be affected with a total of 11 coal-fired units. As a result, the company added no generating capacity and few additional transmission lines.
Nevertheless, it did benefit because business picked up in the textile industry, leading to the construction of new mills, which now preferred to buy electric power and invest the money they would have spent on steam plants into textile machinery that could make more products. Moreover, coal was rationed and rose in price, prompting mills to turn to the power companies to supply their needs.
The consolidated company provided retail service to communities and wholesale power to another The challenges of this period were not fully overcome until the jolt the economy received from World War II military spending. During the tough times, textile mills cut back on production and their use of electricity while residential customers decided against purchasing the new household electrical appliances that were just beginning to become popular before the crash.
In addition, many people let their electric wiring go dead and reverted to kerosene lamps. Anticipating industrial expansion in the Carolinas during the s, the company had invested in a major expansion of its production capacity only to see much of it unused. As a result of all these factors, revenues fell, the company paid no dividends from to , and salaries were cut across the board.
By , it was becoming clear, at least to the government, that the United States would eventually be drawn into the war raging in Europe.
Wartime spending revived the U. To meet increasing demand for power, and to catch up on building the system curtailed by wartime shortages of materials, the company grew on all fronts, expanding capacity, laying new transmission lines, and adding radio communications to improve repair and maintenance services.
During the postwar years, the company was especially successful in signing up rural customers, which for the past 20 years had resisted the change but now embraced electricity. The company also underwent an ownership change during this period. In December of that year, the newly independent company gained a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Within two years, Electric Bond and Share sold off all of its shares. Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, N.
Then, in , it solidified its position in the region by acquiring Tide Water Power Company. It would be the last acquisition for nearly 50 years. The company was satisfied with building its business within the area it had already staked out. Conditions for utilities began to change in the late s, when the U.
Congress passed laws to make possible wholesale power sales and energy trading as utilities began to share grids and buy and sell electricity from one another. As Cavanaugh told Business North Carolina in , "Why would we want to go off overseas or anywhere else where we didn't know the landscape.
Cavanaugh was suspicious of Enron, however, and its attempts to lure away customers, telling Business North Carolina, "They were saying things like, 'We'll sell you a year contract, but I want all the profits recorded in the first year because that's how I make my bonus. You could see their volume, but you couldn't see where they were making anything. It also entered the hot telecommunications field. Florida Progress was founded in the s as St. During the s, it veered away from its traditional business, becoming involved in such areas as equipment leasing, life insurance, railroads, barge lines, and coal mines.
The strategy did not pay off, and in the late s Florida Progress put itself on the block. The acquisition provided entry into a coveted market and supplied the kind of increased revenues the company was looking for without leaving the Southeast. That would change a year later when the company began operating in both the Carolinas and Florida under the Progress Energy brand. While customers may have been comfortable with the old names, it was easier to sell the company to investors by telling them Progress Energy had operations in the South, rather than explaining that it did business under one name in one market and a second name in another.
Aside from name changes, the company also began selling off some of the non-core assets inherited from Florida Progress, many of which proved difficult to unload as the economy soured in the early s. The company also had to contend with a drop in business caused by the recession, as well as low wholesale prices and a heavy debt load.
In , Cavanaugh retired, a move he had planned to make two years earlier. However, in light of the Enron scandal taking place at the time, which led to industry turmoil, he was persuaded to remain at his post until conditions improved. He was replaced by Robert McGehee, who joined the company as general counsel in and was promoted to president and chief operating officer in McGehee took over a company that faced a number of challenges but also one that possessed the potential to enjoy strong growth in the future.
Holson, Laura M. Martin, Edward, "Watts Up, Doc? Sutton, Louis V.
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