Muhlenberg TVA Plant Make Polluter List

WKMS | By The Associated Press,

Whitney Jones

Published January 4, 2013 at 7:50 AM CST

A Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in Muhlenberg County that is undergoing expensive pollution control upgrades has been named a top polluter. The Environmental Integrity Project says the TVA Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro emitted more than 1,500 pounds of arsenic, almost a ton of lead and about 1,400 pounds of chromium in 2011. The plant was ranked third on the group’s metal emissions list, which was compiled from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. The 2,200-megawatt plant is the largest in Kentucky by wattage output. TVA spent 500 million dollars to upgrade the scrubbers on the plant’s generating units, a project that was completed in 2012. The EPA figures used in the survey do not include the plant’s emissions since the upgrades were finished.

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Whitney Jones

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.

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