EPA Refuses Equal Treatement to PNM, A Different Standard for Other States

Pat Vincent-Collawn

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) – PNM today requested changes to the New Mexico air permit for San Juan Generating Station to allow for the installation of new visibility controls at the plant in the next several years. “We are prepared to move forward on installing new environmental controls that will meet federal visibility requirements and further reduce the plant’s emissions. Our strong preference is to do this in the most cost-effective way so that the cost to PNM customers and our state’s economy is kept as low as possible,” said Pat Vincent-Collawn, chairman, president and CEO of PNM parent company PNM Resources.
PNM is appealing a mandate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the San Juan plant install one particular technology, selective catalytic reduction (SCR), to meet a federal visibility requirement. The State of New Mexico has approved a different technology, selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), that can meet that same federal requirement for about one-tenth the cost of EPA’s plan. Initial engineering estimates put the cost of EPA’s plan at about $750 million or more, while the state plan would cost about $77 million.
“Both technologies would improve visibility in regional parks and wilderness areas and represent progress toward meeting the state’s goal to restore visibility in those areas to a natural state by 2064, as required by the Clean Air Act,” Vincent-Collawn added. Read rest of story here: News New Mexico

EPA Refuses Equal Treatement to PNM, A Different Standard for Other States