Without Vermont Yankee, New England CO2 Increase Equal
To Adding 650,000 Cars
By: Guy Page
In December 2015, some New England governors celebrated the Paris climate change
agreements and praised their states’ leadership roles in greenhouse gas reduction. In
the same month, hard data showed that the closure of emissions-free Vermont Yankee
led to a dramatic increase in power-related greenhouse gas production.
During the lengthy debate about the environmental impact of Vermont Yankee nuclear
power plant, the Vermont Energy Partnership consistently asserted that if the
emissions-free power plant closed, its 5% share of the New England electrical power
load likely would be replaced, for the most part, by burning natural gas and other fossil
fuels. Opponents of Vermont Yankee, for the most part ignored this claim, downplayed
it, or confidently predicted the rise of renewable power.
In a recent blog post, Entergy executive T. Michael Twomey said that without Vermont
Yankee CO2 emissions increased and New England burned more natural gas in 2015
than in 2014.
Similarly, in “After Nuclear Plant Closure, Natural Gas Fills in the Gap: A Worrying Sign of
Things to Come?” by Stephen Lacey, Twomey referenced December 2015 ISO-New
England data and noted that compared to 2014 nuclear power’s share of total New
England power generation declined by about 5% in 2015. In contrast, the natural gas
share grew about 5%. All other forms of generation (renewables included) remained
relatively static.
We now know that New England emitted an estimated 3.1 million metric tons of
additional CO2 in 2015, compared to 2014. To put that in perspective, 3.1 million metric
tons of CO2 is equivalent to adding more than 650,000 passenger vehicles to the roads
in New England during 2015.
Food for thought as Vermont and the greater northeast struggle with declining power
generating capacity and growing reliance on fossil-fuel burning alternatives.
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