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Study warns of pollutants

Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 31, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado's four new and planned coal-fired power plants would emit carbon pollutants in the air equal to the tailpipe exhaust from nearly 2 million cars on the road, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report written by environmental groups says the new and proposed plants would emit about 10.8 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, a 27 percent increase on top of the state's 2003 emissions of 39.6 million tons, the latest year for which figures were available.

Heat-trapping gases in the air such as carbon dioxide could increase global warming and affect sea levels, melt glaciers and spawn violent storms. In the Southwest they could change the amount and timing of precipitation, snowmelt and ultimately the water supply.

"Perhaps as much as any region in the country, the Southwest will feel the impact of global warming," said John Nielsen, energy program director for Western Resource Advocates and a co-author of the report.

Titled Climate Alert: Cleaner Energy for the Southwest, the report from Environmental Defense and Western Resource Advocates cites more than a dozen plants that are under construction or on the drawing boards in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.

Those plants, once operating, would add nearly 70 million tons of carbon dioxide a year - equal to the tailpipe exhaust from 12.5 million cars, according to the report.

New power demand should be met with energy efficiency and renewables such as solar, wind and biomass, the report says.

Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, is building a 750-megawatt coal-fired plant near Pueblo. Spokesman Tom Henley said although the utility supports renewable energy, it's not possible to meet the growing demand for electricity through renewables.

"It's a great idea," Henley said. "But the technology to generate power from the sun and wind, when the sun is not shining and wind is not blowing, is not there yet. And renewable energy would be most effective when we could take the energy produced and feed that into the grid at peak usage time."