Coal-Fired Power Plants using Once-Through Cooling with Endangered Species Impacts

Plant Name State Water Body Fuel Type Daily 

Intake 

Capacity 

(mill. of

gallons)

Threatened or endangered 

species living in water body

Records of power plant affecting 

endangered species

Crystal River 1-3 Florida Gulf of 

Mexico

Coal/

Nuclear

2,167.9 Protected species of dolphins 

(Atlantic spotted, Risso’s, and 

bottlenose)

Endangered Fish (ex. Alabama 

shad, salt marsh topminnow, and 

mangrove rivulus)

Endangered Sea Turtles (ex. 

Loggerhead, hawksbill)

Threatened Sea Turtles (Kemp’s 

ridley, green, leatherback)

The Crystal River Plant’s water intake 

structures have impinged at least five 

species of threatened or endangered sea 

turtles – loggerhead, green, Kemp’s ridley, 

leatherback, and hawksbill

Big Bend Florida Gulf of 

Mexico

Coal 1,395.4 Protected species of dolphins 

(Atlantic spotted, Risso’s, and 

bottlenose)

Endangered Fish (ex. Alabama 

shad, salt marsh topminnow, and 

mangrove rivulus)

Endangered Sea Turtles (ex. 

Loggerhead, hawksbill)

Threatened Sea Turtles (Kemp’s 

ridley, green, leatherback)

From 1976 to 1977 the annual impingement 

was estimated at over a quarter of a million 

fish.1

Between 1976 to 1977 the plant killed an 

estimated 68 billion bay anchovy (the bay 

anchovy is not endangered).

Lansing Smith Florida Gulf of 

Mexico

Coal 273.9 Protected species of dolphins 

(Atlantic spotted, Risso’s, and 

bottlenose)

Endangered Fish (ex. Alabama 

shad, salt marsh topminnow, and 

mangrove rivulus)

Endangered Sea Turtles 

(Loggerhead, hawksbill)

Threatened Sea Turtles (Kemp’s 
ridley, green, leatherback)

Jack Watson Mississippi Gulf of 

Mexico

Coal 125.3 Protected species of dolphins 

(Atlantic spotted, Risso’s, and 

bottlenose)

Endangered Fish (ex. Alabama 

shad, salt marsh topminnow, and

mangrove rivulus)

Endangered Sea Turtles (ex. 

Loggerhead, hawksbill)

Threatened Sea Turtles (Kemp’s 

ridley, green, leatherback)

Danskammer New York Hudson 

River

Coal 457 Endangered Fish (Shortnose 

Sturgeon)

In certain years, power plants along the 

Hudson River (including but not limited to 

Dansmakker) have entrained between 33 

and 79 percent of the eggs and larvae 

spawned by striped bass, American shad, 

Atlantic tomcod, and 5 other important 

species. 2

 The ecology of the Hudson River 

has also changed since the plants have been 

in existence, with many fish species in 

decline and populations becoming less 

stable.3

Chesapeake Virginia Chesapeake 

Bay

Coal 513.6 Endangered Species (peregrine 

Falcon, loggerhead turtle, Atlantic 

ridley turtle, Shortnose Sturgeon)

Chesterfield Virginia Chesapeake 

Bay

Coal 845.6

Morgantown Maryland Chesapeake 

Bay

Coal 1,441.8

Potomac River Virginia Chesapeake 

Bay

Coal 450.3

Allen Steam Plant Tennessee Mississippi 

River

Coal 496.8

Alma Wisconsin Mississippi 

River

Coal 181.5 Endangered species (Skipjack 

herring, Bluntnose darter, 

Goldeye, Black redhorse, etc.)

Threatened species (Numerous 
fish)

Big Cajun Louisiana Mississippi 

River

Coal 361.8

Genoa Wisconsin Mississippi 

River

Coal 244.2 Endangered species (Skipjack 

herring, Bluntnose darter, 

Goldeye, Black redhorse, etc.)

Threatened species (Numerous 

fish)

John P. Madgett Wisconsin Mississippi 

River

Coal 322.4 Endangered species (Skipjack 

herring, Bluntnose darter, 

Goldeye, Black redhorse, etc.)

Threatened species (Numerous 

fish)

Lansing Iowa Mississippi 

River

Coal 330.8 Endangered Species (Topeka 

Shiner, Higgins eye pearlymussel, 

sheepnose mussel, Spetaclecase 

mussel, Pallid Sturgeon, etc.)

Meramec Missouri Mississippi 

River

Coal 675.1 Endangered Fish (Pallid sturgeon, 

Topeka shiner)

Milton L Kapp Iowa Mississippi 

River

Coal 175.1 Endangered Species (Topeka 

Shiner, Higgins eye pearlymussel, 

sheepnose mussel, Spetaclecase 

mussel, Pallid Sturgeon, etc.)

Muscatine Plant 

#1

Iowa Mississippi 

River

Coal 301 Endangered Species (Topeka 

Shiner, Higgins eye pearlymussel, 

sheepnose mussel, Spetaclecase 

mussel, Pallid Sturgeon, etc.)

Nelson Dewey Wisconsin Mississippi 

River

Coal 143.9 Endangered species (Skipjack 

herring, Bluntnose darter, 

Goldeye, Black redhorse, etc.)

Threatened species (Numerous 

fish)

New Madrid Missouri Mississippi 

River

Coal 956.1

Nine Mile Point Louisiana Mississippi 

River

Coal 1,497.4

Riverside Iowa Mississippi Coal 246.7 Endangered Species (Topeka 
River Shiner, Higgins eye pearlymussel, 

sheepnose mussel, Spetaclecase 

mussel, Pallid Sturgeon, etc.)

Riverside Minnesota Mississippi 

River

Coal 277.1

Rush Island Missouri Mississippi 

River

Coal 863.1 Endangered Fish (Pallid sturgeon, 

Topeka shiner)

Sioux Missouri Mississippi 

River

Coal 705.4 Endangered Fish (Pallid sturgeon, 

Topeka shiner)

Wood River Illinois Mississippi 

River

Coal 589.2

Ashtabula Ohio Lake Erie Coal 1,016.8 Endangered Species (Lake Erie 

water snake, sturgeon)

Avon Lake Ohio Lake Erie Coal 1,607.9 Endangered Species (Lake Erie 

water snake, sturgeon)

Bay Shore Ohio Lake Erie Coal 742.3

Conners Creek Michigan Lake Erie Coal 323

Dunkirk New York Lake Erie Coal 579

Eastlake Ohio Lake Erie Coal 1,158.3

Edgewater Wisconsin Lake Erie Coal 406.9

J.R. Whiting Michigan Lake Erie Coal 308.1

Lake Shore Ohio Lake Erie Coal 622.7

Monroe Michigan Lake Erie Coal 2,012.9

River Rouge Michigan Lake Erie Coal 647.9

B.C. Cobb Michigan Lake 

Michigan

Coal 558.1

Bailly Indiana Lake 

Michigan

Coal 442.5

Crawford Illinois Lake 

Michigan

Coal 552.3

Dean H. Mitchell Indiana Lake 

Michigan

Coal 746.1

Fisk Illinois Lake 

Michigan

Coal 301.7

J.H. Campbell Michigan Lake 

Michigan

Coal 886.3
Michigan City Indiana Lake 

Michigan

Coal 229.9

Pulliam Wisconsin Lake 

Michigan

Coal 564.6

South Oak Creek Wisconsin Lake 

Michigan

Coal 1,136.9

State Line Indiana Lake 

Michigan

Coal 605.9

Trenton Channel Michigan Lake 

Michigan

Coal 515.5

Waukegan Illinois Lake 

Michigan

Coal 852

Will County Illinois Lake

Michigan

Coal 1,292

Belle River Michigan Lake Huron Coal 949.6

Dan E Karn Michigan Lake Huron Coal 465.12

Harbor Beach Michigan Lake Huron Coal 129.2

J.C. Weadock Michigan Lake Huron Coal 344.9

Marysville Michigan Lake Huron Coal 609.2

St. Clair Michigan Lake Huron Coal 1,343.7

Huntley New York Lake 

Ontario

Coal 846

Presque Isle Michigan Lake 

Superior

Coal 415.4

Bridgeport Harbor Connecticut Long Island 

Sound

Coal/Oil 541

 1 § 316(b) Case Studies, Part D: The Tampa Bay Watershed Case, Table D3-2, found at 

http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/lawsguidance/cqa/316b/phase2/upload/chd1.pdf (last visited May 16, 2011) 2 NYSDEC, New York State Water Quality Report 2006 (Published 2007). 3 PISCES Conservation, Ltd., The Status of Fish Populations and the Ecology of the Hudson (April 2008) at 37-38; see also PISCES Conservation, Ltd., 

Entrainment, Impingement, and Thermal Impacts at Indian Point Nuclear Power Station (November 2007) at 43-44.