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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Ind. Decisions - "Duke to reduce pollution at New Albany plant"

Updating earlier ILB entries, including this one from May 29, 2009, Mireya Howard reported in the NY Times on Dec. 22nd in a story that began:

Air quality in the New York tri-state region stands to benefit from a court settlement requiring Duke Energy, one of the nation’s largest electric power companies, to drastically cut sulfur dioxide emissions from a coal-fired plant in Indiana, state and federal officials said Tuesday.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut joined the federal government and two environmental groups in a 1999 lawsuit over pollution from the Duke plant, the 560-megawatt Gallagher Station, which blows eastward and brings smog and soot to the Adirondacks and other areas.

Under the terms of the settlement, filed Tuesday in United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Duke Energy commits itself to spending about $80 million to switch to natural gas as fuel in two of the plant’s units and installing the latest pollution control technology in two other units. A 30-day comment period remains before the settlement becomes official.

Federal officials said the measures are expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 86 percent from last year at Duke.

The company is also expected to pay a $1.75 million civil penalty and spend $6.25 million on environmental projects, including $1 million in the New York region. * * *

In a 2007 report, the Environmental Integrity Project, a legal advocacy group, found the Gallagher plant to be the dirtiest in the nation in terms of sulfur dioxide emissions. It said it generated just over 40 pounds of sulfur dioxide per megawatt-hour of electricity, about double the average among the nation’s 50 top-polluting plants.

From Bruce Henderson of the Dec. 22nd Charlotte Observer:
Duke Energy will spend $88 million to resolve air pollution violations at an Indiana plant, federal authorities said today.

The agreement ends 10 years of litigation over violations at Duke's Gallagher coal-fired power plant in New Albany, Ind.

A federal jury found in May that Cinergy, which merged with Duke in 2006, didn't get required permits and pollution controls before making modifications that increased Gallagher's sulfur-dioxide emissions. A trial to determine Duke's penalties was scheduled to begin Jan. 25.

The jury sided with Duke on similar charges at two other plants in Indiana and Ohio.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department have brought similar charges – focused on what constitutes “routine maintenance” at power plants – against utilities nationwide, including eight of Duke's Carolinas plants in 2000.

Duke won favorable court rulings on behalf of its Carolinas plants, and in 2006 argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, which sent the case back to a lower court. That litigation remains open.

The Indiana case is the 17th over coal-fired power plant emissions to be settled.

From the Dec. 22nd Louisville Courier Journal, a long story by James S. Bruggers headed "Duke to reduce pollution at New Albany plant." Some quotes from the comprehensive story:
Duke Energy's Gallagher power plant in New Albany, Ind., will either convert two of its four coal-fired units to cleaner-burning natural gas or shut them down under terms settling a 1999 lawsuit brought by the federal government.

The agreement, which also includes new pollution curbs on the remaining two coal-fired units, could cost Duke as much as $85million, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. But the result will be tens of thousands of tons less pollution pumped into the air, just upwind from Louisville.

Both the mayors of New Albany and Louisville were celebrating, but for different reasons. Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, whose air quality office had pressed for Gallagher pollution cuts, called the announcement “great news.”

“It is right in line with what we have been requesting of them,” Abramson said. “It certainly will make a difference in the air we breathe in this part of the Ohio River Valley.”

But one city's pollution is another's jobs and tax revenues, so New Albany Mayor Douglas B. England was pleased Duke didn't close the plant altogether.

“It's a good day,” England said. “They are going to stay. I hate they are going to have to make all those financial changes, but they said it's going to help the environment, and helping the environment today costs money.”

The company said 112 people work at the plant. England said it pays between $500,000 and $1million a year in local property taxes. * * *

Duke must decide by Jan. 1, 2012, whether to shut down the two coal-fired units or repower them with natural gas. If the company decides to shut them down, it has to do so by Feb. 1, 2012.

For the two remaining coal-fired units, it must install a new pollution control method that absorbs much of the sulfur dioxide, Protogere said.

An Indianapolis jury found in May that Gallagher plant operators failed to obtain required permits and pollution controls before modifying two of its units, resulting in increases in sulfur dioxide pollution. A trial to determine the remedy was scheduled to begin in January, but that's now been cancelled.

The agreement won't become final until after a public comment period.

Tim Maloney, senior policy director at the Hoosier Environmental Council, praised the federal government for its persistence, saying it deserved credit for pursuing the cases around the country.

The 600-megawatt Gallagher generating station has long been a source of contention in Louisville.

The former Jefferson County Air Pollution Control District — now the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District — unsuccessfully sued the EPA nearly 30 years ago to force tougher controls at Gallagher. At the time, regional EPA officials in Atlanta were forcing sulfur dioxide pollution scrubbers on LG&E plants in Louisville, while their counterparts in Chicago were not requiring the same in their jurisdiction for Gallagher.

The plant still has no sulfur dioxide scrubbers.

Louisville tried, unsuccessfully, in 2004 to join the lawsuit, but helped persuade Duke to agree to spend $100million on other controls, including four “bag houses” to help trap soot and other particles.

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton, a Democrat whose 5th District is closest to the plant, called the settlement “an early Christmas present.”

“What happens over there affects the air in west Louisville,” she said. “It will hopefully make the community healthier.”

See also this Dec. 22nd story by David A. Mann of the New Albany News & Tribune.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 23, 2009 09:49 AM
Posted to Environment | Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions