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VIDEO: TVA's Gallatin coal plant project from above

Josh Brown
joshbrown@tennessean.com

The red cranes and scaffolding are in clear view at the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-burning power plant near Gallatin as the utility moves forward on a $1.1 billion project to cut certain emissions there.

A new video released by TVA offers a birds-eye view of the latest efforts to construct machines at the plant that would cut mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions — pollutants that can cause respiratory and other health problems.

In recent months, workers moved two massive transformers into place near a new 370-foot-tall chimney.

So far, workers are about 32 percent finished with the nearly five-year project, according to a news release. The TVA expects to complete the project by the end of 2017.

The Gallatin plant burns 13,000 tons of coal a day and produces enough electricity to power the equivalent of 300,000 homes, according to the federal authority.

The project comes after the federal agency agreed to resolve longstanding disputes over the pollution emitted by its plants. TVA entered into an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, four states and three environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, to lower its emissions to meet new requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act.

Reach Josh Brown at 615-726-5964 and on Twitter @joshbrownnews.