CAPE GAZETTE EDITORIAL
7/17/07 Our appeal: Clean up the air
NRG Energy http://abettersussex.com/NRG.html and Conectiv Energy have appealed regulations passed in November 2006 by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control requiring both companies to clean up emissions at their power plants.
Secretary John Hughes has called the multipollutant regulations a key step toward protecting public health and welfare for thousands of Delaware residents and visitors.
But the two companies continue to drag their feet. They have appealed the regulations to the Environmental Appeals Board, which added to the delays by failing to hold a scheduled hearing June 18. That hearing was delayed for lack of a quorum, and both appeals are now scheduled Aug. 27-28.
The publicly traded NRG owns the coal-burning Indian River power plant, which some rankings list among the most polluting plants in the nation. The company contends it can’t meet the deadlines and that the regulations don’t sufficiently take into account the costs of cleaning up. Conectiv has said it can probably clean up its Edgemoor plant, but it’s moving forward with its appeal anyway.
We think it’s time that NRG and Conectiv get the message that people are tired of waiting, they’re tired of stalling and they want once again to breathe healthy sea air that has been bringing people to the beach for decades.
Emissions also eventually fall into our waters, where metals like mercury contaminate our fish to such an extent that they can be eaten only on a limited basis.
If the debate over wind power shows nothing else, it’s that the people of Delaware would rather pay more for power that doesn’t pollute than allow more coal – even “clean coal” – to be burned at Indian River.
NRG can continue to slow down the cleanup process, but we think enough is enough.
It’s time to spend every available dollar not on appeals but on cleaning up the air.
If the schedule can’t be met, fines should be imposed every day until the limits are met.
Even so, the costs are likely to be no more than what the companies would pay to lawyers during a pointless appeals process.
Cape Gazette editorials are considered and written by members of the Cape Gazette editorial board which includes: Dennis Forney, publisher; Trish Vernon, editor; Kerry Kester, associate editor; Dave Frederick, sports editor; Laura Ritter, news editor; and Jen Ellingsworth, arts and entertainment editor.
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The Indian River power plant, near Millsboro, is the state's top producer of toxic and smog-forming emissions.
Owner NRG Energy says the plant won't meet new pollution reduction targets. The News Journal file/GARY EMEIGH
The Indian River power plant near Millsboro will miss by at least two years major pollution control deadlines adopted in November, according to documents made public by state regulators on Friday.
Two other power plants -- in Dover and the Conectiv plant in Wilmington -- both reported that they meet state milestones for reducing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury pollution. But NRG Energy termed initial targets set by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control "not achievable" for the year 2009.
Company officials said that Indian River would make significant reductions in emissions from the plant between 2009 and 2011, but refused to make public details about the way its operation eventually will meet requirements after 2012. Much of the compliance plan after that date assumes a shutdown of Indian River 's two smallest and dirtiest units.
"We're quite disappointed with that," said James Werner, DNREC air and waste management director. "The request was that they submit a compliance plan. NRG submitted a non-compliance plan."
The new rules sharply reduce the amount of allowed pollution, with maximum allowable sulfur dioxide releases falling by nearly 87 percent in 2012 and nitrogen oxides capped at 76 percent of current maximums. State officials adopted the plan after noting that utilities failed to voluntarily take steps needed to protect public health.
Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware, said that NRG wrongly blocked public access to portions of its plan.
"All they're being asked to do here is identify the technology they would use and the date they would install it by," Muller said.
"It would be hard to argue that that would be any kind of trade secret."
NRG and Conectiv both have appealed the state's "multi-pollutant" regulations, which won wide support from citizen and conservation groups after months of debate and a series of public meetings.
Sulfur dioxide plays a role in the formation of acid rain and smog, which pose hazards to human health, crops, waterways and the environment. It also can contribute to the formation of toxic soot that can become trapped deep in human lungs. Nitrogen oxides also are a major contributor to smog and water pollution.
NRG Energy dismissed DNREC's timetables as unworkable last year, saying that its own pollution control strategy would cost $330 million but would still fail to meet state requirements.
Dover city officials initially objected to DNREC's rules, but reversed course after further study.
NRG's mostly coal-burning Indian River complex ranks as the state's top source of toxic and smog-forming pollution. The company had already proposed shutting down two of it dirtiest units in the past, as part of an effort to win a long-term, state-mandated power purchase agreement that would have supported construction of a plant that burns natural gas-like, coal-based fuel.
DNREC officials said that the state's reduction goals were aimed at improving public health but took into account industry concerns about cost.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.
