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Clean Air Plan for San Juan Generating Station Finalized
Friday, August 5, 2011
Clean Air Plan for San Juan Generating Station Finalized
New Mexico on Track for Significant Public Health and Environmental Protection
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303
San Juan County, NM—Amilestone plan to limit haze and smog forming pollution by more than 80% fromthe coal-fired San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico was finalized today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA).
The plan marks the first EPA plan in the nation to clean upaging coal-fired power plants, setting a high bar for the protection of publichealth and the environment.
“This is a huge step forward for clean air and clean energyin New Mexico,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director forWildEarth Guardians. “This planputs public health and the environment first using the most up-to-datecost-effective pollution controls are used. This is a win-win plan.”
The EPA is finally taking action to clean up the San JuanGenerating Station in response to a lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA hasbeen required to ensure the oldest and dirtiest sources of air pollution curbtheir emissions to reduce haze in National Parks and wilderness areas.
Modeling prepared by Public Service Company of New Mexico,or PNM, shows the San Juan Generating Station contributes to 80% of all visibilitydegradation in Mesa Verde National Park, 70% in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness,and 45% in Bandelier National Monument. Called “Best Available Retrofit Technology,” the EPA’s plan would reducevisibility impairment by more than 40%.
Under the EPA’s plan, which was proposed in early January ofthis year, PNM will be required to meet updated limits on haze forming nitrogenoxide and sulfur dioxide pollution. The San Juan Generating Station would have to meet a nitrogen oxideemission rate of 0.05 lb/mmbtu through the use of selective catalyticreduction, the most up-to-date, cost-effective control technology, reducingemissions by more than 80%. Thecompany will have to meet these limits within five years.
The same pollutants that form haze are the same that formsmog and particulates. In 2010, the American Lung Association gave San JuanCounty’s air quality an “F” for because of smog pollution. It is estimated that every year, haze,smog, and particulates from the San Juan Generating Station cause 33 prematuredeaths, 50 heart attacks, 600 asthma attacks, 21 cases of chronic bronchitis,and 31 asthma-related emergency room visits every year at a cost of more than$250 million.
Still, WildEarthGuardians has called on PNM to instead spend its money to fully retirethe San Juan Generating Station and offset the electricity it generates withrenewable energy. New Mexicoalready has a 20% renewable energy standard and reports show that a combinationof rooftop solar and wind energy could meet New Mexico’s power needs by morethan seventy-fold.Utilities in Colorado and other states are beginning to retire coal-fired powerplants, opting against investing millions in the face of mounting environmentalliability.
“Clean air and clean energy go hand in hand,” saidNichols. “There is no such thing asclean coal and we hope PNM uses this opportunity to transition toward cleanerenergy. If not, we are at leastheartened that we have the strongest safeguards in place to protect ourcommunities from the San Juan Generating Station.”
Although the State of New Mexico was originally required toadopt a clean up plan for the San Juan Generating Station, because of delay andthe inability of the state to develop a plan that complied with the Clean AirAct, the EPA developed its own proposal. Under the Clean Air Act, where states fail to protect clean air, the EPAis legally obligated to develop federal plans. The EPA’s plan still allows the State of New Mexico todevelop its own plan, so long as it is at least as strong.
Operatedand primarily owned by Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, the SanJuan Generation Station is an 1,800 megawatt power plant that every yearreleases thousands of tons of toxic air pollution from its smokestacks. Located15 miles west of Farmington, the plant consists of four boilers and releasesmore than 18,000 tons of smog forming nitrogen oxide gases, 51 pounds ofmercury, and more than 13,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide—as much as is releasedby more than 2.3 million passenger vehicles.