EPA
NRECA Opposes EPA on N.D. Haze
NRECA is siding with officials in North Dakota, and a coalition of electric cooperatives and businesses, in urging the Environmental Protection Agency to halt its plans to take over a regional air quality program.
North Dakota Sens. Kent Conrad (r) and John Hoeven address a regional haze issue on which NRECA has filed comments with the Environmental Protection Agency. (Photo By: AP Photo/Dale Wetzel)
In comments filed with EPA, NRECA said North Dakota should be allowed to proceed with its own strategy to deal with haze issues, instead of a federal plan that relies on unproven and costly technologies.
“North Dakota and its regulated community have some of the cleanest air in the nation and consistently stay well within all of the EPA’s health-based standards,” according to the filing, submitted by Ted Cromwell, senior principal, environmental policy.
“The state’s analysis and recommendations for regional haze improvement resulted in a reasonable implementation plan that will drive significant improvements to address visibility impairment.”
EPA announced Sept. 21 that it will supersede the portion of North Dakota’s program that deals with haze caused in part by nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-based power plants. That includes five coal-based units at G&Ts.
The agency wants three of these units to reduce emissions through selective catalytic reduction technology (SCR) on boilers that use lignite coal.
In its comments, NRECA said that proposed SCR technology already has failed a pilot test on North Dakota lignite and is not guaranteed by its vendors to meet EPA’s presumed levels of performance.
“EPA’s proposal will cost an additional $700 million for a technology that hasn’t been proven in field tests on North Dakota lignite, or guaranteed by the vendors; but if the technology worked, might gain 10 percent in visibility improvements over what the state proposed. This purported improvement is imperceptible to the human eye,” NRECA said.
The association also cautioned that North Dakota cannot make the improvements the agency wants solely by reducing emissions within the state.
Some of the regional haze is attributable to emissions from other states and Canada, NRECA noted, adding that EPA should account for that in its deliberations.
The agency’s comment period on the rule ended last month; a broad-based group called Partners for Affordable Energy has been working to persuade EPA to accept the North Dakota-run plan.
Meanwhile, members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation said they have continued to press EPA to accept the state’s proposed haze regulations.
Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat, told a news conference in Bismarck, N.D., that he hopes the emissions dispute will be resolved in the state’s favor.