A majority of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from power plants and go toward electricity generation. Greenhouse gases are the leading cause of climate change worldwide.
by Caity Coyne
The Harrison Power Station coal fired power plant in Haywood, West Virginia, was the ninth highest emitter of greenhouse gases nationally in 2023. (Getty Images)
West Virginia is the 12th highest emitter of greenhouse gases from large stationary sources in the nation, according to data released earlier this month by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
About 2.71% of all greenhouse gases emitted nationwide in 2023 by large stationary facilities — which include but are not limited to power plants, chemical processors, natural gas systems and refineries — came from the Mountain State, per the data.
The EPA data included emissions reports from 6,740 facilities across the country. Of all those facilities, 113 were in West Virginia.
In total, those West Virginia facilities emitted more than 64.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the environment in 2023. Power plants, according to the data, were the largest emitter in the state, accounting for 72.25% of all emissions from 13 different facilities.
Carbon dioxide was by far the highest emitted greenhouse gas last year, with 52.3 million metric tons — about 81% of all emissions — released into the atmosphere. According to the data, there were 11.4 million metric tons of methane released by West Virginia facilities and 233,038 metric tons of nitrous oxide released in 2023.
Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — as well as other greenhouse gases — are known to be the leading cause of climate change worldwide as they trap heat in the atmosphere which warms the planet. They are also known to increase air pollution and smog, contributing to asthma and other respiratory conditions for people who live in places with high concentrations of them in the air.
On the county level, Harrison County saw the highest level of emissions in the state, with 11.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases released. Nearly all of those emissions, however, came from just one of four facilities in the county: the Harrison Power Station, a coal-fired power plant. The plant was the ninth highest greenhouse gas emitter of any facility in the nation in 2023, according to the EPA data.
Out of the state’s 55 counties, 14 did not have any greenhouse gas emissions from large, stationary sources on record with the EPA in the report.
More than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions in the state last year went toward electricity generation, according to the data.
Coal-fired electric power plants are responsible for nearly 90% of net electricity generation in the state, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Renewable energy sources — which include hydroelectric, solar and wind — are much cleaner forms of energy, but only account for about 7% of all electricity in the state. Natural gas, which is also cleaner than coal-fired electricity, provides about 4% of the state’s electricity.
Of the electricity produced in West Virginia — which is part of the PJM grid, serving 13 states and the District of Columbia — about three-fifths were consumed by residents in the state. Industrial facilities are the largest consumers of the state’s electricity, using about 46% of all electricity in 2022, per the EIA. About 23% of electricity was used by transportation that year, 18% by residential consumers and 13% by commercial users.
According to a 2022 review of electric utilities across the country, West Virginians paid the third highest total household electricity costs as a percentage of their income. Alabama and Mississippi, according to the study from the consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board of Illinois, were the only states where prices outpaced that of the Mountain State.
To date, there has been little oversight in the U.S. regarding carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, according to the EPA. In April, the EPA released new, finalized rules that will require all coal-fired power plants in the nation that plan on operating past 2039 to cut or capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032.
The rules have been criticized by numerous West Virginia officials and several states — including West Virginia — filed a legal challenge against the new rules. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is running a Republican campaign to be the state’s next governor, has called them a tactic by President Joe Biden’s administration to shut down coal-fired power plants across the nation.
Environmental advocates have touted the more stringent policies, hoping over time they will help clean up historically polluted areas where health issues persist due to toxins and residents are forced to live without guaranteed access to clean water or air.
Last week, the United States Supreme Court declined to issue an emergency stay that would have halted the implementation of the new rules, which also deal with coal ash, wastewater and mercury pollution.