Columbia power plant to stop burning coal by October

After a century of burning coal for energy, Columbia’s Municipal Power Plant will stop the practice by October.

Plant superintendent Christian Johanningmeier said the Water & Light Department made the decision after state and federal rules changing the operation of coal-burning plants. The Environmental Protection Agency’s rules on coal combustion residuals, or CCRs, begin October 14, and Johanningmeier said it would be costly to retrofit their current technology to meet the new standards.

“With the new CCR rules, it becomes very advantageous for us to stop doing that by the effective date of the rule,” Johanningmeier said. “And if we wanted to keep burning coal, we would have to install what’s called a dry ash system to our boilers.”

Currently, the city pumps water from More’s Lake into the plant to wash out the burnt ash underneath the boilers, and flushes it back into the lake. A backhoe scoops the coal ash slurry from the bottom of the lake, and sets it out to dry. The city then ships the cinders to road departments that want to use it for icy roads.

“Given the age and size of these units, it’s not really cost effective to do that,” Johanningmeier told ABC 17 News Thursday afternoon at the power plant.

“Assuming that we can get a good air permit, and we can prove technically that we can burn the wood, then it becomes just a financial decision of whether they want to convert the boiler or not,” Johanningmeier said.

The city currently buys its coal from Peabody Energy in St. Louis. The coal itself comes from a mine in Indiana, shipped to the plant by railroad. Johanningmeier said they will burn through the coal at the plant, and another incoming shipment, before ending the process.

More’s Lake will need to stay there as a retention pond for the area, Johanningmeier said.

He did not expect any plant employees to lose their job because of the change.