Environment DEC
From the July 2003 issue
Hudson Valley Power Plant Installing New Equipment to Curb Emissions
Reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide from
power plants will help to control acid rain
(Diagram courtesy of EPA)
In May 2000, the state began enforcement actions against Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. and three other utility companies operating eight power plants in New York State for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA). The New Source Review provisions of the CAA require power plants to install "best available control technology" to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants when they make major modifications to electric generating units.
The state had charged that Orange and Rockland violated the federal CAA by making major modifications without installing "best available control technology" at the Lovett coal-fired plant in the Hudson Valley. Orange and Rockland sold the plant in 1999 to current owner Mirant New York, Inc., who is now responsible for installing the enhanced pollution controls.
Historic Settlement
The landmark settlement will result in major air pollution cuts at the Lovett plant, located in Tompkins Cove, and improve air quality throughout the region. The agreement marks the first time a state, acting entirely on its own, has settled a New Source Review/Prevention of Significant Deterioration enforcement lawsuit with a power plant operating within its borders.
DEC Commissioner Erin M. Crotty said, "This settlement is the first of its kind in New York State, and once again demonstrates our national leadership on clean air issues. State-of-the-art pollution control devices will be installed at the Lovett power plant, improving air quality and reducing emissions that harm public health and our environment. We will continue to pursue similar actions to protect the health of citizens and natural resources across the state."
Penalties and Remedies
Orange and Rockland, the Lovett plant's former owner, must pay a $600,000 penalty and $800,000 to fund energy conservation and clean renewable energy projects in the lower Hudson Valley.
Mirant, a subsidiary of Mirant Corp. based in Atlanta, Georgia, will install new equipment to reduce, by 2008, nitrogen oxide emissions by at least 75 percent and sulfur dioxide emissions by at least 40 percent from the current permitted emission rate. These substances are linked to asthma and other respiratory diseases, acid rain and smog. Mirant also has the option of achieving equal or greater pollution reductions by switching from coal to natural gas.
This settlement is part of a nationwide clean air initiative triggered by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in September 1999 to enforce the New Source Review provision of the CAA. Spitzer and the EPA reached a similar settlement with a Virginia facility on April 21, 2003. New York has CAA enforcement actions pending against 22 other coal-fired power plants in New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana.
