The citizen group pointed out six major problems associated with the Sendai Power Station [5]. 

1)Impact on health 

There are 15 schools within a 4km radius of the power plant. Therefore, there is a concern over the health of children affected by air pollution. Sendai Power Station is supposed to use 320,000 tons of coal, but the type of coal is not disclosed. If the coal is brown, it contains 0.673% sulfur, which means that 2153 tons of sulfur will be burned annually. The PM2.5 monitor at Nakano Elementary School, about 3 km from Sendai Power Station, still exceeds the daily average environmental standard of 35 μg / ㎥. Coal-fired power will add further dust to this state, and there is concern about the impact on children.

 2) Impact on the natural conservation area

Gamo-Higata, which is the essential natural zone for the migrating birds. The conservation zone is located approximately 1Km from the power plant, threatening the biodiversity in the area. According to the citizen group, there is the uniqueness of the place. It has a full tidal wave, which is very important for the bio-organisms in the ocean. It is an essential area for change in salinity by mixing seawater and river water. The water is shallow, and sunlight reaches the bottom, the slope is gentle, and the flow is mild, and the base soil is soft, and the creatures can dig burrows, which makes the area an excellent spot for biodiversity. For this reason, many benthic animals (shellfish, crabs, and spiders) are living in nurseries for fish, squid, etc. Also, shorebirds rest their wings in the middle of the migration and energy. It also has an international airport role to replenish. Also, benthic animals eat and decompose dirt (organic matter) that comes from rivers and the sea, so tidal flats are also useful for purification of water quality. Also, the area provides ecosystem service by locals doing clam hunting on the tidal flat, bird watching, and searching for crabs with children for environmental education purposes. There is no evidence to prove that the waste from the power plant will not disturb the ecosystem of the nature zone.  

3) Impact on climate change

        The Sendai Power Station has a power generation capacity of 112,000 kW. Still, this small scale CFPP uses an old-fashioned technology called “subcritical pressure,” which is inefficient technology from the 1950s and is expected to emit a considerable amount of CO2 at approximately 670,000 tons per year.  Japan's per capita emissions were 9.54 tons per year, almost 10 tons,  in 2017.  Continuing to emit such a large amount of CO2 for many years will further promote global warming.

 4) Assessment Issue

      According to the national law, when constructing thermal power generation facilities under the “Environmental Impact Assessment Law,” it is obliged to conduct ecological impact surveys to the surrounding area, explain to the residents, and conduct risk communication. However, in the case of the thermal power generation business, the target is 112,000 kW or more, and the Sendai Power Station plan is slightly lower than the standard. Thus, the assessment is not necessary. Sendai City has set environmental assessment targets separately from national laws, but the thermal power generation business has not been covered so far, and after the Sendai Power Station project surfaced and approved the construction, a new guidance policy for controlling the location of coal-fired power plants introduced (in 2017 December). These new regulations apply to the future development of power plants, but it will not be used to Sendai Power Station.

5) Communication with residents

       The construction started in September 2015 without any environmental assessment and notice to the local community. The company says that it has made a notice, but only six lines of text were posted on its website six months after the start of construction. In the Ministry of the Environment's “Environmental Conservation Measures Guidelines for Small-scale Thermal Power Generation” (March 2016) and the pollution prevention agreements with businesses in 7 prefectures such as Miyagi and Sendai, it is stated that the communication on environmental issues is required. The insufficient explanation of the power plant shows a violation of the pollution prevention agreements.

 6) Waste accumulation in Tsunami disaster-affected area. 

           It is unfair for the companies outside the prefecture, such as Kansai Electric Power, to sell the generated electricity to the Tokyo metropolitan area to locate polluting facilities with low quality, which potentially have a higher environmental impact in the disaster-affected areas. This case of the Coal-fired Power Plant is a bad precedent for “reconstruction relying on the construction of contaminated facilities.” 

      To this date of writing, the lawsuit seeking suspension of Sendai PS operations is undergoing, and the court decision has not established yet. However, because of this case, similar movements in other parts of Japan emerge [5]. On October 28, a decision was made to dismiss the request for an injunction against the operation of a coal-fired power plant. However, it acknowledged the violation of the pollution control agreement and strengthen the commitment to ensure the cooperate responsibility of the corporations [7]. 

The background to this and other conflicts on CFPP is as follows.   Japan has around 90 coal power plants and companies are planning to build 30 more with a total capacity of 16,730 megawatts [6]. As climate change issues grew in importance, the government, in its basic energy plan endorsed in 2010, sought to increase reliance on nuclear to 53 percent of the total and reduce that of coal to 11 percent by 2030. But the Fukushima No. 1 disaster threw that plan into disarray. Under the current plan, the government is aiming to rely on nuclear power for 20 to 22 percent of Japan’s electricity, and coal for 26 percent by 2030.[6].

According to the local organization Japan Coal Plant tracker [1] the impact is estimated to be 0.672 [Mt-CO2 / year] (estimated value from the power-generating capacity, based on the formula published by MIT, 2007.), SOx emission concentration:100.0 [ppm], NOx emission concentration:100.0 [ppm], Ash dust emission concentration: 50.0 [mg / m3]. Estimated CO2 emissions per year, 670,000 tons.

The testing operation started on 12/June/2017 but the total operation began in October 2017.