Pacificorp Chooses To Cut Output By 25% At WY Coal Plant Rather Than Install More Pollution Controls
ROCK SPRINGS — PacifiCorp has chosen to throttle down production at the coal-fired Jim Bridger Plant rather than install expensive clean-coal technology there, and Wyoming regulators are now backing the plan. Reducing the plant’s electricity output to 76.3 percent of capacity in lieu of spending $280 million on new pollution controls is the most economical and environmentally sound way to meet federal haze regulations, according to the company.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality agreed in a 17-minute hearing in Rock Springs on Aug. 23 that the company plan would meet the state-enforced federal haze-reduction rules. PacifiCorp presented its plan in a 25-minute hearing just before DEQ made its finding.
“The state of Wyoming has determined that no additional controls are necessary,” said Amber Potts, DEQ’s State Implementation Plan and Rules Section Supervisor with the Air Quality Division. The agency found the plan provided “enforceable emission limits” to demonstrate reasonable progress toward state and federal goals to reduce haze pollution.
PacifiCorp will modify operations to meet emission standards, a move that will “effectively decrease the operating capacity of the plant,” according to DEQ documents. The reduced output will cut down on haze-causing pollutants, the regulatory agency wrote. The move will reduce Jim Bridger Plant to 76.3 percent of its power output capacity, according to the company’s permit application to the DEQ. Existing permit restrictions already curb the plant’s potential to about 84 percent of its potential, according to WyoFile calculations from PacifiCorp documents. The new plan would reduce coal consumption by about 9.3 percent compared to current operations, according to WyoFile calculations.
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