Browsing by Author "Strasert, Brian A"

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    Air Quality and Health Benefits from Potential Coal Plant Closures in Texas
    (2017-10-09) Strasert, Brian A; Cohan, Daniel
    As power production from renewable energy and natural gas grows, some analysts anticipate coal-fired power plant closures in Texas. In this study, the potential effects of such closures on air quality, regulatory attainment, and human health for 15 of the state’s largest coal plants were analyzed. The impacts varied significantly across power plants, sometimes by more than a magnitude, even after normalizing by generation or emissions. While some power plants have negligible impacts on concentrations at important monitors, average impacts up to 0.5 ppb and 0.2 μg/m3 and maximum impacts up to 3.3 ppb and 1.3 μg/m3 were seen for ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), respectively. Individual power plants impact average visibility by up to 0.25 dV in Class I Areas. Health impacts normalized by electricity generation range from $7.3/MWh for Fayette Power Project to $134.6/MWh for W A Parish, mostly due to PM2.5 from SO2 emissions.