Among the first things incoming SUNY-Oswego students learn when they arrive on campus is the names of the smoke stacks at the Oswego Steam Generating Station. Those names shan't be repeated here.
This isn't the best picture to show this, but the history of air pollution control can be seen in older power plants. The two original coal-burning plants are housed in the brick building. The four smaller stacks (one is hidden) haven't been used since the 1970s, thanks to the Clean Air Act, because pollution from those stacks would fall over the city of Oswego. The response to that was to build tall stacks. These stacks are about 700 feet high. The tall stacks improved Oswego's air but the building of such stacks across the country had the unintended consequence of producing acid rain far away from the power plants. In turn, big light-colored buildings to either side of the generating stations are the scrubbers that remove the excess sulfur dioxide, ash and other pollutants. This particular plant switched from coal to oil sometime in the 1970s and I believe it can also now burn natural gas as well.
Did I mention the freakishly large carp that hang out where the warm water discharges? Of course not! Why would I mention such a thing? Pay no attention to the giant fish.
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