A federal report recently released by the Alexandria Health Department found that the sulfur dioxide emissions from the coal-burning Mirant Potomac River Generating Station could be harmful to children with asthma and other at-risk populations.
“Acute exposures to short-term SO2 [sulfur dioxide] levels estimated by air dispersion modeling of Mirant air emissions under current operating conditions may be of public health concern to exercising asthmatics and asthmatic children,” the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found.
William Cibulas, director of the registry’s health assessment and consultation division, urged the city to warn those sensitive to the emissions about the risks.
“Messages designed to educate teachers, parents, and children about the importance of recognizing and treating asthma and the hazards of certain air pollutants seem reasonable,” he said in a letter to Charles Konigsberg, director of the Alexandria Health Department.
Alexandria officials used the report’s findings to call for the plant to close. The city is currently involved in a series of legal challenges to the plant’s operation.
In January, the city challenged a U.S. Energy Department analysis of the effects of the Mirant facility, arguing the department used the scientific analysis to justify its decision to bring the coal-burning plant back online. The plant was shut down in 2005 after the District of Columbia Public Service Commission filed a complaint about pollution from the plant. The Energy Department declared an emergency at the end of 2005 and ordered the plant back online, saying its operation was necessary to the federal government.
The company has said it is operating responsibly and emissions from the plant do not pose a health threat to the community.
“There is a striking consistency between concerns expressed in Dr. Cibulas’ letter and those raised by the City of Alexandria’s environmental consultants,” Konigsberg said.
“This is one more piece of strong evidence that Mirant’s continued operation of this outmoded, coal-fired power plant may be putting some residents at risk,” said Alexandria Mayor William Euille. “The City of Alexandria will continue to pursue all available options to bring about the closure of this facility.”
