1998 marked the first time in which the electric utilities industry reported their emissions to the EPA. According to their data, Hydrogen fluoride is the 3rd main pollutant, due predominantly to the burning of coal.

(The above chart comes from Clear the Air: The National Campaign Against Dirty Power which issued a report in August 2000 on power plant pollution. See report at http://cta.policy.net/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=18980).

Power Industry Primer on Toxics Release Inventory (pdf file)

Of the chemicals that leave a typical plant through its stacks, and therefore must be reported under the right-to-know program, by far the largest are diluted hydrochloric acid (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and sulfuric acid (H2 SO4 ).

Electric Power Research Institute - Hydrogen Fluoride.

Hydrogen fluoride from power plants is about 84% of all the hydrogen fluoride from human activities released into the air each year in the United States. Almost all hydrogen fluoride from power plants comes from burning coal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that U.S. power plants burning coal released about 32,100 tons of hydrogen fluoride into the air in 1994.

To the problem of trace elements and hydrocarbons emissions from combustion of coal. J Hyg Epidemiol Microbiol Immunol 1984;28(2):129-38

The air pollution emission data presented here are a result of systematic measurements of actual emissions. The measurement included virtually all larger power plants in Czechoslovakia and were carried out between 1975 and 1981...Apart from organics the condensate was found to contain a relatively large amount of fluoride compounds. There is suspicion that this fluorine may occupy an important position among the factors responsible for the ecologic damage caused by emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Fluoride Pollution from Coal Burning in China Compilation of recent studies, 1990-2001

Recently a huge amount of fluoride in coal has been released into indoor environments by the combustion of coal and fluoride pollution seems to be increasing in some rural areas in China...Since airborne fluoride from the combustion of coal pollutes extensively both the living environment and food, it is necessary to reduce fluoride pollution caused by coal burning. ("Health effects of fluoride pollution caused by coal burning." Sci Total Environ 2001 Apr 23;271(1-3):107-16)

Florida Power Companies Release Pollution Reports: Hydrogen Fluoride 3rd Main Emission Tampa Tribune artuckes June-July 1999
Power to Kill: Death and Disease from Power Plants Charged with Violating the Clean Air Act (pdf file) Clean the Air July 2001
Going Backwards: Bush Expected to Weaken Portions of Clean Air Act Baltimore Sun December 23, 2001
Most Dirty Power Plants Getting Dirtier Clean the Air

• To learn more about fluoride pollution, click here