Press Advisory, August 4, 2005
***Press Advisory—Embargoed Until 3pm Thursday August 4, 2005***
Air Permit for Xcel’s Proposed Coal Plant in Pueblo Challenged
Contacts:
Leslie Glustrom
Clean Energy Action
303-245-8637-home
720-341-3154-cell
Dan Friedlander
Clean Energy Action
303-499-0300-cell
Margaret Barber,
CCAP 719-489-2078
What: The air permits issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE) for Xcel Energy’s proposed coal plant in Pueblo have been challenged.
Who: Citizens for Clean Air (and Water) in Pueblo (and Southern Colorado) (CCAP) and Clean Energy Action (CEA) are the plaintiffs.
The Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) and the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) of the CDPHE are the defendants.
How: CCAP and CEA filed a Complaint Seeking Judicial Review of APCD and AQCC’s Issuance of Construction Permits for Xcel Energy’s proposed coal plant in Pueblo.
Where: District Court, Pueblo County, Colorado
When: Complaint was filed by overnight mail. Should be received by the Court today--August 4, 2005
Key Issues:
1) CDPHE failed to investigate the June 2002 Notice of Violation issued by the US EPA to Xcel Energy for violations at the existing Units 1 and 2 in Pueblo. CDPHE has a statutory requirement to investigate written complaints under Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) § 25-7-115
2) CDPHE failed to follow their own regulations on “netting.”(Xcel Energy proposed to reduce emissions of SO2 and NOx from the existing Units 1 and 2 in order to “net out” of review for these pollutants.) These emissions of SO2 and NOx are under the Notice of Violation issued by EPA. Before accepting Xcel’s proposal, CDPHE should have ensured that a) the emissions reductions were not just reductions to compliance levels b) that there would not be an increase in hazardous pollutants at the point of maximum impact and c) the netting was accompanied by a State Implementation Plan revision since the source involved is the subject of a Notice of Violation. (All of these requirements are found in CDPHE Regulation 3, Part A, Section V.)
3) CDPHE failed to examine the effect on visibility in Class I areas like Rocky Mountain National Park and the Great Sand Dunes considering all pollutants. (The analysis done by Xcel and accepted by CDPHE ignored the effect of SO2 and NOx on visibility and these are the primary pollutants that contribute to visibility problems.) Data available from the National Park Service confirms that the existing Units 1 and 2 are having a very serious effect on visibility and that even after the imposition of the Settlement Agreement controls the existing Units 1 and 2 as well as Unit 3 will continue to have an effect that, while reduced, is still serious.
[The analysis done by Xcel and accepted by CDPHE is the equivalent of saying, “If you allow us to ignore the pollutants that make the largest contribution to impairment of visibility, we can demonstrate that the plants won’t have a very large effect on visibility…” This is hardly a reassuring analysis!]
4) The permit allowing land preparation activities was issued in 17 days without public comment, even though public comment was clearly warranted.
5) All of these violations are intensified by the status of Pueblo as an environmental justice community that already bears much more than its share of the state’s pollution.
Quote from Clean Energy Action:
“The CDPHE has decided to ignore the laws and regulations that should be governing this process. Coal plants emit massive amounts of air pollutants so this is a strange time to ignore the legal provisions that were set up to protect Colorado’s air quality,”
Dan Friedlander, spokesperson for Clean Energy Action.
For a Quote from Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo (CCAP) please contact Margaret Barber at 719-489-2078
