Ameren Power Plants File Toxics Release Reporting, Stressing High Numbers Still Mean Low Public Risk

St. Louis, MO, March 3, 2000—Ameren Corporation today announced that the nine AmerenUE and AmerenCIPS coal-fired power plants reported to a federal inventory a total of almost 22 million pounds of trace metals and acid aerosols as a result of generating more than 40 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 1998. (A kilowatthour is a measure equaling one thousand watts of power over a one-hour period.)

The nine plants burned 46 billion pounds of coal to generate electricity in 1998.

Ameren’s announcement results from the company’s first-ever filing of emissions data for the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program.

In 1997, the EPA expanded TRI to include electric generating plants fired by coal and oil and ruled that by July 1, 1999, utilities must file reports on TRI-regulated 1998 emissions. TRI was created in 1986 when the U.S. Congress passed a bill called the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act in the wake of a chemical plant disaster in India.

Although the report is designed to inform the public about the release of substances at plants near them, Ameren officials expressed concern that the sheer numbers listed for power plants in Missouri and Illinois could unnecessarily alarm the public. "We strongly believe the public has a right to accurate and meaningful information about the impact of our facilities on the environment," said Ameren Senior Vice President Paul A. Agathen, who is the company’s chief environmental officer.

"However, it is important that the public realize that the TRI report is a summary of annual cumulative emissions of a number of substances. The public is exposed to a minute fraction of these substances at concentrations that are well below any level that would affect their health.

"These high release numbers don’t reflect the facts that these emissions represent very low levels of risk or that our plants have made significant progress in reducing emissions. In addition, coal- and oil-fired power plant emissions are regulated and managed by a variety of laws designed to protect the public’s health. The emissions reported in the TRI data are in full compliance with these laws. Most of this TRI information is not new because much of it has long been reported to regulators in other formats."

On July 1, 1999, each affected Ameren plant reported on 10 to 20 chemicals—primarily listing hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, and such trace metals as barium, chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc. The report aggregates trace metals and acid aerosols emitted at concentrations well below levels that would pose any danger to human health. Numerous tests and air dispersion modeling studies on Ameren plants’ stack gases have shown that these emissions are also well below official health exposure limits. In addition, no health risks have been associated with exposure to byproducts of coal combustion—called fly ash.

"Certain Ameren plants have voluntarily reduced emissions well beyond the amounts required and have outpaced most other U.S. coal-fired plants in reducing emissions. We have been working to further improve our performance every year," Agathen added. "AmerenUE plants recently won the Missouri Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award for our plants’ efforts to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. Since 1990, AmerenUE has reduced the rate at which nitrogen oxides are emitted by more than 62% and of sulfur dioxide by nearly 75%. In the same period, AmerenCIPS has cut its sulfur dioxide emission rate by more than 47% and its nitrogen oxide emission rate by more than 28%."

Following EPA regulations, Ameren plants’ TRI reports will not include any ash that is recycled. The larger Ameren power plants recycle more than half of the ash generated from burning coal; ash is used in street and road maintenance and building materials, including concrete, blasting grit, and roofing shingles.

With assets of $9 billion, Ameren’s operating companies—AmerenUE and AmerenCIPS—provide energy services to 1.8 million customers in a 44,500-square-mile service area in Missouri and Illinois.