The Tennessee Valley Authority invites the public to provide input on its draft Environmental Assessment of options being considered for the future of Units 1 and 4 at the Shawnee Fossil Plant near Paducah.
Nearly 90 public comments from the initial scoping phase of the Environmental Assessment process were considered during the development of the current draft. Additional public comments are now being requested before a final recommendation is made to the TVA board of directors. TVA must then communicate a decision to the Environmental Protection Agency by Dec. 31.
Under a 2011 agreement with the EPA, Kentucky and other states, and environmental groups, TVA is reducing emissions across its entire coal-fired generating fleet. At the Shawnee facility, the agreement requires that TVA decide whether to install additional emissions controls on Units 1 and 4, convert those units to biomass, or retire them by Dec. 31, 2017.
There are seven additional operating coal-fired units at Shawnee that are not affected by this proposal and will continue to operate. A remaining unit, Shawnee 10, was retired in 2014.
The draft Environmental Assessment focuses on two options for Units 1 and 4: installing scrubbers and selective catalytic converters to reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions, respectively, or retiring the units. TVA previously examined converting coal units at Shawnee and elsewhere to burn biomass, but it did not prove to be feasible.
The public comment period runs from Nov. 25 through Dec. 9. The draft Environmental Assessment can be found at http://www.tva.com/environment/reports/shawnee_units1+4/index.htm. Public comments can be submitted on that website, in writing to Charles P. Nicholson, PhD, NEPA Compliance, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11B, Knoxville, TN 37902-1499, or by email at cpnicholson@tva.gov.
TVA’s board of directors and management are committed to making the best decision for the Shawnee Fossil Plant and having a transparent public process that ensures local residents’ views are included when the options for Shawnee are reviewed. The review includes potential impacts on the natural environment, economy, availability of resources and TVA’s long-term goal for a diversified energy portfolio that provides the Valley with low-cost, reliable power.
The Shawnee Fossil Plant was completed in 1956 and consists of a total of nine active coal-fired units that produce approximately 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to supply 540,000 homes.