Capitol Power Plant

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Coordinates: 38°52′58.3464″N, 77°0′27.0576″W

The Capitol Power Plant is a power plant which provides steam and cooled water for the United States Capitol and other buildings in the Capitol Complex. Though it was originally built to supply the Capitol complex with electricity, the plant has not produced electricity for the Capitol since 1952.^[1] This duty is handled by the power grid which serves the rest of metropolitan Washington. The plant has been serving the Capitol since 1910 and is under the administration of the Architect of the Capitol (see 2 U.S.C. § 2162) The power plant was constructed under the terms of an act of Congress passed on 28 April 1904.

The Capitol Power plant burned 17,108 tons of coal in 2006 producing about 60,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Senators from coal mining states blocked a proposal in 2000 to use cleaner fuel for the plant. Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) used their influence as two of the Senate's most senior members to block this proposal. In May 2007 CNN reported that two companies, International Resources Inc. and the Kanawha Eagle mine, have a contract to supply a combined 40,000 tons of coal to the plant over the next two years. The companies have gave a combined $26,300 to the McConnell and Byrd campaigns for the 2006 election. ^[2]

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has announced an initiative to make the Capitol carbon-neutral. The power plant acts as a major obstacle to achieving this objective.^[3] In November 2007 Daniel Beard, the House of Representatives's chief administrative officer, announced that he will purchase $89,000 worth of carbon offsets for 30,000 tons of carbon emissions. Beard will make the purchase from the Chicago Climate Exchange. ^[4]

Residents of the Hill interviewed the Capitol architect about the plant in 2006. They were informed that the only way to optimizing the plant’s efficiency was to rebuild it. This however, requires an act of Congress.^[5]

[edit] References

• Capitol Complex Overview via the Architect of the Capitol
• 2 U.S.C. § 2162, Statute for the Capitol Power Plant via the Cornell Law School

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