By The Associated Press

Increases in pollution from Indiana’s coal-fired power plants sent the state’s overall toxic releases up nearly 5 percent in 2005 despite efforts by manufacturers to reduce their emissions, state and federal environmental officials say.

Northwestern Indiana’s Lake County, with its industrial base, ranked as the seventh most toxic county in the nation, with releases of 50.3 million pounds of chemicals — or 20 percent of the state’s total output — in 2005, according to the Toxic Release Inventory data released last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Overall, Indiana ranked fifth worst among states in the amount of toxic chemicals released into the air, water and land. The annual survey tracks nearly 650 chemicals, including many linked to cancer and other serious health problems, but does not include some sources of pollution such as automotive emissions.

The data showed manufacturers in the state decreased toxic pollution by 1.6 million pounds, but electric generating facilities increased toxic releases by 7.4 million pounds, according to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Utilities accounted for 45 percent of the state’s total toxic releases while manufacturers accounted for 53 percent of the total.

IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly said the data from the Toxic Release Inventory helps his agency better understand trends in toxic releases.

“Examining TRI data and talking to the source helps IDEM understand the reasons behind increases and how we can help sources integrate pollution prevention practices,” he said.

IDEM spokesman Rob Elstro said the increase in toxic releases by utilities was caused by three factors: an increase in the amount of power generated, changes in the blends of coal burned, and a revision in how toxic emissions at power plants are calculated.

The update in the way utilities calculated emissions resulted in more accurate emissions reporting, Elstro said. However, an IDEM announcement said the increase was mostly due to increased power production and the type of coal burned.

Vectren’s A.B. Brown power plant in Posey County reported an increase of more than 214,000 pounds while its F.B. Culley generating station in Warrick County reported a 10,800-pound increase.

Vectren spokesman Mike Roeder said power generation rose from 6.51 million megawatt hours in 2004 to 7.24 million megawatt hours in 2005.

“One of the issues that we constantly struggle with is our customers are using more energy. We are working very hard to try to do the right thing in environmental stewardship and leadership. It’s a balancing act,” he said.

Duke Energy’s Gibson Station near Princeton showed an increase of more than 1 million pounds. Spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said the addition of other pollution controls at the plant contributed to the higher levels of other pollution reported. She added the burning of more coal to generate more electricity also played a role.

In Lake County, Mittal’s Indiana Harbor East facility in East Chicago released 25.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals, a more than 10-fold increase from 2004, the EPA reported. Indiana Harbor East ranked second on the list of Indiana polluters, behind only Nucor Steel in Crawfordsville, and 16th nationwide.

Posted 3/26/2007