LANSING – DTE Energy’s coal-fired plant in Monroe emits the seventh-most carbon dioxide of any power plant in the nation, according to a study prepared by a group urging approval of a new federal law regulating greenhouse gases.

The plant, which came online in the early 1970s, is an example of why the nation needs to shift away from coal toward new, cleaner energy sources like wind, said Shelley Vinyard of Environment Michigan at a news conference. Michigan ranked 13th in the nation for most carbon dioxide pollution from power plants in 2007, according to the study.

“It’s time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act,” Vinyard said, calling for Congress to support the new standards and for support of a proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule cutting greenhouse gases.

But DTE spokesperson John Austerberry said the Monroe plant in fact is one of the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired plants in the nation. He said because it is one of the largest power plants in the United States, its total emissions are larger, but its emission of carbon dioxide per megawatt, a measure he said is a more accurate reflection of efficiency, is low.

“Emissions per megawatt is the most meaningful measure of environmental performance and on that basis the Monroe power plant ranks among the very best in the world,” Austerberry said. “If you were to stop the operation of the Monroe Power Plant, less efficient plants would have to run more to make up for the lost of generation, so you would actually increase carbon dioxide emissions.”

DTE has installed new scrubbers at the plant this year and has spent $1.7 billion in the past 10 years to improve emissions from the plant, which he said supplies about one-quarter of the power to DTE’s system in southeast Michigan. He said DTE supports efforts toward other power sources, noting the company’s effort to build a new nuclear power plant at the site of the Fermi II reactor near Monroe.

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