ClimateWire:

Three power plants owned by Southern Co. top the list of U.S. coal-fired sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, according to rankings released today by an environmental group.

The Atlanta-based utility’s Plant Scherer in Georgia topped the list, emitting about 27 million tons of CO2 annually in 2007, according to the report (pdf) released today by Environment America. The James H. Miller Jr. Plant in Alabama was the No. 2 emitter, followed by Plant Bowen in Georgia.

27 million tons of CO2 in one year. As the chart on page 18 points out, that is the equivalent of about 4.8 million cars. What is that I keep hearing about clean coal?

The report is largely about the fact that most of the power plants in the United States are really really old, and thus, really really dirty. Consider this chart:

Here is the report:

document_gw_03 –

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

1SKY — ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE — ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION — AMERICAN RIVERS — CLEAN WATER ACTION — DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE — EARTHJUSTICE — ENVIRONMENT AMERICA — ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND — NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL — OCEANA — SIERRA CLUB — UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS — THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY — WORLD WILDLIFE FUND

WASHINGTON (June 16, 2009) – A new national scientific assessment of climate change in the United States from 13 federal agencies underscores the need for a comprehensive climate and energy policy that rapidly reduces heat-trapping emissions and addresses the consequences of climate change already being seen across the nation, according to a coalition of science, wildlife, conservation and environmental groups. The groups released the following statement:

“Scientists are telling us that our climate future is in our hands. We’re seeing the effects of climate change now and we have the power to prevent it from getting much worse. We owe it to ourselves, our children and our grandchildren to address global warming and dramatically lower heat-trapping emissions as quickly as possible.

“It’s time for America to lead the world in clean technology and get off dirty fossil fuels that hurt our health and our economy. Building a clean energy economy will curb America’s oil dependence, create good jobs here at home and prevent the worst consequences of climate change. This report underscores the urgent need to act. Congress must pass strong, effective climate and energy legislation this year and the United States must sign on to an effective international climate agreement at this year’s United Nations climate conference.”

More information on the report is available here.