July 21, 2004

Environment - News today

Andy Knott. The Evansville Courier&Press reports in a story today:

Andy Knott, a voice for the environment and opponent to a direct-route Interstate 69 in Indiana for more than 12 years, has left the Hoosier Environmental Council for a job in Michigan. Knott's last day with the council was Monday. * * *

In I-69 debates, Knott was often a calm spokesman but ready with a catchy or pointed quote for the media. Though they often butted heads in the highway debate, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner J. Bryan Nicol said he would miss Knott.

"I have a great deal of respect for Andy Knott," Nicol said. "He has been a tireless advocate, doing everything that he can on behalf of the Hoosier Environmental Council and on behalf of environmental issues. "I think it will be a loss for (the council) and a gain for the state of Michigan."

Power plants. The Munster Times reports, in a story headlined "NIPSCO takes bite out of pollution: IDEM calls effort 'big step' in meeting EPA standards":
New pollution control equipment at Northern Indiana Public Service Co. power plants are helping kick the door open to economic development in Northwest Indiana. More than $200 million in smog-reduction equipment is getting its first full summer workout at all three NIPSCO coal-fired generating stations, an important step in helping the region attain compliance with U.S. EPA Clean Air standards. The equipment is expected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, a major smog contributor, by up to 70 percent.
This story today in the Mt. Carmel, Illinois Daily Republican Register details at lenth the efforts being made "as Cinergy officials search for the answer to eliminate the acid aerosol emissions coming from units 4 and 5 at the power plant [the Gibson Generating Station]":
Representatives of Cinergy first made city officials aware of the emissions in late June, nearly a month after new pollution controls went online, designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in accordance with a May 31 federal deadline. Those pollution controls, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units, however, also came with what plant officials have called an "unintended side-effect" - creation of sulfur trioxide which, when mixed with water, becomes sulfuric acid.

Posted by Marcia Oddi at July 21, 2004 06:51 PM