Homer City Generating Station

Homer City Generating Station
Location of Homer City Generating Station
Country	United States
Location	Center Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°30′39″N 79°11′37″W
Status	Active
Commission date	Units 1, 2: 1969; Unit 3 1977
Owner(s)	Edison International
Power station information
Primary fuel	Bituminous coal
Generation units	Steam turbine
Power generation information
Maximum capacity	2,022 MWe

Homer City Generating Station is a 2-GW coal-burning power station near Homer City, in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, USA. It is owned by Edison International and operated by its subsidiary Midwest Generation. Units 1 and 2, rated at 660 MWe, were launched into operation in 1969. Unit 3, rated at 692 MWe nameplate capacity, was launched in 1977. It employs about 260 people, and generates enough electricity to supply two million households.

Location

The station is located in Center Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, occupying approximately 2,400 acres (9.7 km²). The site also includes the 1,800-acre (7.3 km²) Two Lick Reservoir, a water conservation facility which is operated by the station.

Coal supply

As of 2005, bituminous coal was delivered to the Homer City Generating Station by truck. Units 1 and 2 burned local Pennsylvania coal (that is cleaned on site in a coal cleaning plant) or Western Pennsylvania Pittsburgh seam coal. A flue-gas desulfurization unit (scrubber) was added to Unit 3 which allows the unit to burn local coal. But now with diminishing local coal and mines to support it, they have reopened the train track that runs through Indiana University of Pennsylvania and now supplies are brought in by train.^{[citation needed]}

History

Until its construction in the 1960s by the Pennsylvania Electric Co. (PennElec) and others, much of the property was owned by the Benamati family who continue to reside in and around Homer City. The property was originally acquired by Giovanni Batista Benamati in the 1920s. Benamati, who immigrated from Malcesine, Italy, acquired the property from the Houston family, many of whom were buried in a family plot on the Benamati farm. Giovanni's son, John, owned one of two farms that would eventually be acquired by the electricity consortium. Another of the two farms was acquired in about 1950 by Thomas Guy Benamati, another of Giovanni's sons. Thomas raised turkeys until 1952 when he sold the property to his brother Peter. Peter continued to operate the farm until he sold it to PennElec. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the family managed to survive raising turkeys, practicing family-farm agriculture, and carrying on other sustaining occupations such as delivering milk to dairies and long-haul trucking.

CNN online edition reported that six workers were injured on Thursday, February 10, 2011, when a six-inch, high-pressure steam pipe ruptured and caused an explosion on the sixth floor of a building. Three men were flown by medical helicopter to Pittsburgh hospitals, where they are listed in fair condition. Three others were taken to an Indiana County hospital where they were treated and released. The blast happened about 7:45 AM on Power Plant Road off of Route 119. The company says the plant has an "exceptional" safety record with only one incident reported in the last 856 days. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been called in to investigate the cause of the explosion. In the meantime, the unit where the explosion occurred has been shut down. No power interruptions will occur.

Water use

Boiler water make up, condenser cooling water and potable water is taken from Two Lick Creek, processed through various pretreatment facilities, used and discharged through various environmental treatment facilities and returned to Two Lick Creek and Blacklick Creek.From there the Black Lick enters the Conemaugh River, which goes on to meet the Loyalhanna River, creating the Kiskiminetas River, before entering the Allegheny River.

Cooling Towers of the Homer City Generating Station

Pollution

This plant is a major polluter, ranking highly both nationally and within the state, recently releasing 8,500,000 pounds (3,900 metric tons) of toxic chemicals according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Pennsylvania has ranked it the #2 polluter in the state. Homer City Generating Station releases huge amounts of mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and other toxic or damaging chemicals. A scrubber was added in 1998 which reduced mercury output.

Mercury pollution

• In 1998, Homer City Generating Station produced a total (air and other) of 2,963 pounds (1,344 kg) of mercury according to the Environmental Working Group.
• In 2002, one source (Clear the Air (Hong Kong)) claims its air output of mercury was 545 pounds (247 kg).
• For 2003 another source (Environment Maine Research and Policy Center) claims it produced 665 pounds (302 kg) of mercury air pollution.

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) pollution

• In 1995, Homer City put out 127,383 pounds (57.780 metric tons) of SO₂.
• In 2003, Homer City put out 151,262 pounds (68.611 metric tons) of SO₂ and was ranked SO₂ polluter #4 in the nation.

Selenium in wastewater discharges

In 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined the owners of the Homer City electricity generating station, EME Homer City Generation LP, $200,000 for violating the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law. The station exceeded its permitted effluent standards for selenium, total suspended solids, and biochemical oxygen demand in its wastewater discharges, and allowed unpermitted discharges of stormwater associated with its flue-gas desulfurization scrubbers. "The facility has exceeded the effluent standards of its permit numerous times between December 2001 and the present, and this pattern of violations has to be addressed," DEP Southwest Regional Director Kenneth Bowman was quoted saying.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions

According to Public Citizen: "The plant ranks #33 in the nation for total CO₂ emissions, contributing 13,745,174 tons of the pollutant primarily responsible for global warming to our atmosphere." The organization Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) reported in 2007 that this plant emitted 12,800,000 tons of CO₂ and also ranked the facility as 33rd largest CO₂ emitter in the United States.

Architectural mention

View of the power plant from Homer-Center High School

The plant's Unit 3 has a 371 m (1,217 ft) tall chimney, which was built in 1977. This chimney is currently the third tallest chimney in the world, the second tallest in North America, and the tallest in the United States. On clear days, it is possible to spot the chimney from as far south as Greensburg, Pennsylvania and as far east as Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.

See also

• List of chimneys
• List of towers
• List of tallest freestanding structures in the world

External links

• 2005 toxic output numbers
• Dirtiest Plants 2003
• Post Gazette article
• Environmental Working Group article Mercury Falling
• Pennsylvania plant rankings
• Public Citizen mention of pollution from Homer City power plant
• Survey of major mercury polluters in USA
• Mention of Homer City scrubber
• Diagram of Unit 3 - Skyscraper Page