Riverside has their main air emissions permit up for review by the MPCA.

Some facts to keep in mind:

• Riverside has been exempted from the standards of the Clean Air Act of 1970, and the amendments regarding Mercury emissions in 1990.  They are allowed to burn coal in much of the same way they did in 1950 when the two older boilers went on-line.  The newer boiler employs a different technology but emits more.
• Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of SO2, NOx, CO2, and Mercury pollution in the state. Riverside is one of the biggest and oldest of the coal-fired plants.
• The emissions from the plants contribute to: ground level ozone (bad ozone and caused the ozone alerts we had earlier in the summer), acid rain, global warming, crop/vegetation damage, the fish consumption advisories across the state, asthma attacks, bronchitis, and other respiratory symptoms.
• Besides the above emissions they emit over 50 other Hazardous Air Pollutants including lead, dioxins, nickel, cadmium, benzene, toluene, styrene, chromium VI, chloroform, bromomethane, trichloroethylene 111, arsenic and many others.
• Burning natural gas would remove the majority of emissions. The current SO2 potential to emit 31,732 tons per year would go down to approximately zero.  Mercury/lead emissions would also be completely removed.

Report on Minnesota’s Coal Burning Plants and health effects of  Particulate Matter (PM) –Carl Nelson of the Minnesota Project 

• Factsheets on Coal Burning plants
• cleartheair.org - look under reports and factsheets
• iwla.org - bottom of page 
• Search Engines for more info:
• www.google.com   search “coal burning” or similar
• www.yahoo.com 
• MPCA’s website  (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency)
• Look under “News and Notices”—Public Notices, find Xcel Energy Riverside Title V permit and download the permit notice.  You can also search the site to get general information on air pollution and the dangers of the power plants emissions.
• Publications - 
• Riverside Fact Sheet 
• Power Plant Article - MS Word for PC Documents
• Riverside Emissions Data
• Hazardous Air Pollutants emitted 
• 2001 Toxic Release Inventory 
These are preliminary data figures from the ERC on 2000 reportable emissions under the SARA "Right-to-know" laws.  It is only a small fraction of the total emissions, but this year they are required to report persistant chemicals like mercury and dioxin.  I have also included index values based on the Pratt index for chemicals that have been profiled.  Weighted average values above 20 are extremely hazardous and represent some of the largest numbers seen in the Minneapolis area. JE 9-20-01
• Photos of Riverside Coal Plant
• ariel up-close 
• ariel far-away 
• Click on these charts to see the difference in emissions between burning coal and burning natural gas. 


Difference in emissions for PM10, SO2, and NOx

Difference in emissions for other compounds