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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-07-1999 - InfoBill Holman, state secretary of environment and natural resources: ~If eve cut [power plant] emissions substantially, then we will reduce ozone pollutions in Piedmont citiB BY JamVs~,.E,'ra SHIPPER AND tuittlN SCHH,L STAFF WRITERS ' When pollution thickens the summer breeze in North Carolina's cities, the gov- ernmentwarns people to stop driving and mowing their lawns to keep lung-searing smog from getting worse. But officials can't do anything about the biggest air polluters of all - the smokestacks of coal-fired elec- tric power plants that ring the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte. Because of a special provision in the Clean Air Act, 14 power plants owned by Carolina Power 8i Light and Duke Power have been allowed to burn millions of tons of coal without modern pollution controls. After a year of fruitless negotiations, the dispute over that smog-forming pollution has turned into a public confrontation between Gov Jim Hunt and the state's two utility giants. This week, Hunt will formal- lypropose new regulations designed to cut bytwo-thirds the nitrogen oxide pollution billowing out of the 14 plants. Hunt's environmental officials say the bad air in cities and mountain forests can't be cleaned up simply by muzzling cars because coal-burning power plants produce up to half of the nitrogen oxides released into North Carolina's air -the equivalent pollution of 12 million to 15 million cars. "If we cut their emissions substantially, then we will reduce ozone pollution in Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle," said Bill Holman, the state secretary of environment and natural resources. "This will mean cleaner air for our citizens." But the power companies counter that Hunt's plan could cost them up to $600 million without solving the smog problem. CP&L and Duke Power officials point out SEE POL,WTION~ PAGE Z2A aNSlp Texas plan f ling plant pc might work r 22A tvery year the coal-burning CP&L power plant at Roxboro puts out 51,800 pounds of nitrogen oxides. The state seeks a sharp reduc STAFF PHOTO BY CHRISTOBAI PEREZ „° ` 11 ah,1i~ yyV 5i`a ,~yy54444`J,~~z~`4~~.j~ ~, i 22a F From ~ • CONTINUED FROM •PAGE 1 A that researchers don't know how much of the. ozone problem can be blamed on power plants. And the federal government's air-pollution strategy, which prompted Hunt's clean-air plan in the first place, has been thrown into disarray by recent court decisions: "Our position on emission restrictions is that they should be based on good science, not on pout ical agendas," said Mike Hughes, a ~CP&L spokesman. Still, -the state is being pressed to move forward by a growing coalition of environmentalists con- cerned about mountain air, acid rainand urban smog. They vow to push Hunt for even tougher con- trols on coal-fired stations. Bob Bruck, director of envirori- rriental programs at N.C. State University, said that if the state fails to act, it has no .right to tell Tennessee and other states to stop sending its pollution'into the smog-choked North Carolina mountains.. "We've got some of the worst plants in the country in our back yard," he said. 06d plants p®19ut~ h~av6ly For three decades; CP&L's Roxboro coal-burning power plant has towered over rural Person County. The plant has brought many benefits here - CP&L pays more than a quarter of the coun- ty's property taxes and donates money to local charities and schools. The plant created a popu- lar dishing spot, Hyco Lake, when it dammed the Hyco River to ensure a water supply for its boil- ers. In the countryside north of Roxboro, transmission towers march with military precision through cow-dotted fields, carrying up to 3.2 million kilowatts of power in their drooping cables. They con- verge at the Roxboro plant, where four steam-driven turbines churn in a 25-story-high structure of steel, piping, wires and machinery. Behind the plant lies the fuel for that steam - a smoldering moun- tain ofcoal, left there by the 100-car trains that arrive every day from •mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. Dominating the whole scene are the four immense stacks. Two of them are 400 feet tall, the others 800 feet, or more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. They sprouted one at a time, in 1966, 1968, 1973. and 1980. Their tips are streaked with soot, but in autumn, they exhale a yellowish wispy trail that dissipates in the wind. If the plant were built today, what comes out of its stacks would be illegal. The 29-year-old Clean Air Act and subsequent amend- mentswould require the installa- tion of chemical anti-pollution units that break down the main ozone-forming pollutant - nitro- gen oxides -into less harmful components. Instead, the smoke from the burnt coal is merely cooled and cleared of soot before it puffs into the sky. That's because Congress allowed plants built before the mid-1980s to operate without state-of--the-art controls on the assumption that companies would soon replace the plants with clean- erpower. Instead, most of the plants across the country have contin- ued to operate. In 1996, coal-burn- ing provided 60 percent of the power consumed in North Carolina, and all 14 of the state's plants are exempt from the stiffer requirements of the amended Clean Air Act. Last year, the Roxboro plant alone pumped out 51,808 tons of smog-forming nitro- gen .oxides, the 10th-largest amount produced in the nation. Duke Power's Belews Creek plant located northeast of Winston- Salemranks third in the nation. A,s a result, North Carolina's industri- al nitrogen. oxide emissions cur- rentlyadd up to more than what's produced in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connec- ticut and Delaware combined, according to EPA statistics. Along with exhaust from cars, trucks, lawn mowers, bulldozers, factories and other sources, the power plant emissions can create ground-level ozone when they mix with hydrocarbon fumes and bake in the sunlight. Although coal-fired plants have been part of North Carolina's landscape for decades, chronic air pollution in growing cities and the Southern Appalachian mountains has sparked increasing concern about damage to health and the environment. Na. 2 it>I bad-aor days. In 1998, North. Carolina experi- enced unhealthy ozone levels on 73, days, second only to California; according to a survey by the U.S, Public Interest Research Group. State air officials say the state's good monitoring is the reason for the high ranking, but they also admit that urban air quality, which improved after the smoggy 1980s; has deteriorated in the late 1990x. The Triangle's dirty air has taken a toll on its residents' lungs; according to Dr. Wes Wallace, an emergency room physician at UNC Hospitals: Inhaling ozone can cause swelling and spasms in air tubes, making breathing a painful struggle. "Clearly on bad-air days, things get worse," Wallace said. "This.is a preventable problem." Aside from the human health effects, researchers have discov- ered that ozone also stunts the growth of crops and forests. In December 1998, faced with a potential federal crackdown on air pollution, Hunt offered his own two-step plan. The first part - tightening car emissions stan- dards and mandating the sale of low-sulfur gasoline -passed the General Assembly in July. The second part is to reduce nitrogen oxides released by the power plants to 0.25, pounds per million BTUs produced by 2005. The draft regulation will be pre- sented Wednesday to the Environ- mentalManagement Commission, the state's top environmental pol- icy-making panel. It gives Duke Power and CP&L two options - installing state-of--the-art controls at the fve largest power plants, or finding the equivalent reductions at all 14 stations. "These reductions, when com- bined with tougher controls on exhaust from cars and trucks, should help us resolve North .~ . Ore ~ ~N~&~~ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1999 .. .Carolina's ozone problem," Holman said. But how much the power plants . contribute to that ozone problem . .. .. .. is still a matter of debate. State meteorologist George . Bridgers made a connection when the Triangle recorded its un- healthiest level of ozone pollution .~ in years. On Wednesday Aug. 18, _ _ the third day of school in Wake County, the air outside East Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh was 96 degrees,' hazy and . dangerous. . .. flirting w6th fade Purple A meter housed in a little white ` , +, ,;. building on the school grounds 1 ' ' ~ recorded an "air quality index" of ..;::~';`,:°;~;~;:c;c:~``''~`=~;;~:~:* 200 - one point away from a " {:~~-;; ~,.. ~~:~~:~~ ~~~ ~'~~ ~ Code Purple level. At that level, • the state would have warned chil- e ~ ~"'• '' ~ ' ~~ ~ ' "` ~ ~~' dren to stay indoors all day. That morning, the wind was blowing from the northwest. Bridgers said the wind was . . ~ undoubtedly carrying smog-form- ing gases from CP&L's Roxboro and Mayo plants all the way from Person County to the Triangle. . "They do~impact the air quality ,. • , . ; ~ ~ in the Triangle on specific days . when the winds are from the north- west," Bridgers said. "I don't think . ~ there's any argument about that." John Bachmann, one of the EPA's top ozone pollution experts, ' ~ ~ said research has shown that plumes of ozone form downwind from.coal-fired power plants. In certain weather, he said, the - Roxboro plant, for example, could pollute the air as much as all the .: ~ tailpipes of cars and trucks run- ning in the Triangle that day. "If the wind was coming from the north, the power plant could be as influential as the local cars," said Bachmann, associate director of the EPAs air quality and pollution stan- dards headquarters in Durham. But the data are still not avail- `~~ ~ ~ able to backup those suspicions. • • The state Division of Air Quality ." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ has been studying the movement of ozone in North Carolina. It expects initial results in the sum- mer of 2000. "We don't have the hard numbers in hand yet Lto show] that these units need con- troy" said Brock Nicholson, the agency's planning chief. Duke Power and CP&L say the regulators should keep their noses out of the smokestacks until those hard numbers are available. Representatives for the two utili- tieshave been meeting with Hunt administration officials in the past year in hopes of making the state back down from a plan they say is premature. This year, federal judges have thrown out or delayed the EPA's tighter standards on nitrogen oxide and ozone pollution. The companies argue that the state should wait for federal guidance before introducing new anti-pol- lution measures. It's a policy most states are following. At the very least, CP&L and Duke Power say, no new regula- tions should be imposed before the state air pollution study is finished. George Everett, a Duke Power lobbyist, said his company knows it will have to reduce its pollution. But, he said, "we don't know what steps to take at what plants to meet what standard." . P~iwer deregulati®n lmt9ms For North Carolina's two power company giants, the costly regula- tionscouldn't come at a worse time. Duke Power and CP&L estimate that installing the pollution equip- ment would cost $500 million to $600 million, at a time when they're trimming costs in prepa- ration far a competitive power market. "Six hundred million, even for companies the size of CP&L and Duke, is real money," said Dr. Ed Erickson, a professor of econom- ics at N.C. State University. "And you can only spend the same money once." Erickson said that at a time of scarce resources, new emissions controls might not accomplish the most social good. If the power companies are allowed to recov- ersuch investments through their rates, for instance, it will be resi- dents of the state who end up pay- ing the final bill, Erickson noted. Duke Power, which owns seven of the state's 14 coal-fired power plants, has offered a counter- proposal to "voluntarily" cut 30 percent of the pollution generat- ed byall its stations -rather than reduce two-thirds of nitrogen oxides emissions at the three biggest plants.. CP&L has not made a specific,offer for voluntary cuts, but it has urged Hunt to negotiate a compromise. The companies emphasize that they are already cutting their nitrogen oxides emissions to~ com- ply with federal acid-rain regula- tions.Duke Power will have spent $50 million by next~year to cut that pollution by 40 percent, while CP&L has spent $140 million on new burners at five plants to halve its release of nitrogen oxides. "There'has to be some recogni-~ tion for the nitrogen oxide emis- sions reductions that are already taking place," said Hughes of CP&L. Rule-making a bag battle The power companies may find a sympathetic ear at the Envi- ronmental Management Commis- - sion. Its chairman, David Moreau, said the commission needs. de- tailed information on the goals and strategies of the cleanup plan. The rule-making process is shap- ing up as a political battle that could outlast the Hunt adminis- tration. "It's apparent we need to move forward, but we need to move for- ward in, an informed manner," Moreau said in an interview "Right now, the commission is not well informed." Moreau will also hear criticism of Plant's plan -from another quarter. After a September forum on North Carolina's air woes, the Save Our State environmental group con- e chided that Hunt should require . state-of--the-art pollution controls at all 14 electric plants. Bruck, the N.C. State professor, said one study showed that the ` state would have to cut its nitro- gen oxides emissions by 80 per- cent or more to lick the ozone problem. It's worth the cost to do so, he said. • "We are jeopardizing the fabric of our ecosystems and the health of the most vulnerable people in our society with the quality of our air,".Bruck said. ~ . Staff writer James Eli Shiffer can be reached at 836.5701 or ~shiffer@nnndo.com 1998 nitrogen oxides emissions by thousands of tons: Duka Power 9 Belews Geek ~ CP&L • 51.8 Raxhoro k Duke Power ~ $ b Morsholl ' CP&L ~ 12.6 Mayo Duke Pewer ~ 9 ~ Allen Duka Power t Oiltside #ti 9.6 CP&~e ~ 8.9 CP&L ~ 7.4 Sutton ?~ s t r } r. } . - ~:~:. ` . i} S , r •~.~", ~~ ~ ~ s~;, `" ' ~ s. i'~l ~%'Yhve'.31I~ - ~. t ., ~~ The coal rs shipped to North Carolina via rail ~""•~ from West Virginia and } ~~' other central Appalachic s?s: states A crackdown on coal to cleax the air Burning coal has provided abundant electricity in North Carolina for decades. It also produces coal smoke that contains dust, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, mercury and other potentially harmful substances. Gov. Jim Hunt has proposed cutting the emissions of one of those pollutants -nitrogen oxides - from 14 coal-fired power plants owned by Carolina Power &• Light and Duke Power. The pollution ~k~&e b.s Yt~ ~`~ '~ ~s~ ~:t„ ~ ~~ ,,~ ~,~= contributes to the urban smog problemthat violated ~" `"` ~'' ~ ~ •~' ` ' health standards on 6$ days this year. 5.6 rr C F .~ ~ar~rr:t, ope eor Duke Power : rGrs #;~ River Bend ~~3.6 ~,, ?~.~ ~,F!' „ ~~,~ • Duke Power " l~E, 4 ~ 3 ~ ~~ ; ~ 1 -~ • ,- ~~ . Duck : ~ ~ ss~..,, m . -r xe ~ `~. ;;. •~ . ~3'3 ~~ ~~~ ~ • Weatherspoop Duke Power !~, `2.0 ]a) Du':~ Po r ! ~,r~ r' .r ~. '~ ,, . til CPL ~ ~ °~ ,~, Dan River tilit~a ~' ' ~ ~'~uar,~ 2) Cud -. :•:i: r, . 1948 nitrogen oxtdes et 'ils5ions t it ~~r~ Po r ~__ _ _,. , ` ~ " • ~ , _ .: h p yl , ~ ~ • 3b~ J u 76 t00.ihao`sor,d tons por ynor It.ai?i: ~.`7,f :iti}x ~r ut . 51r7i tlrourand fors per ycar 3f ~nr, P~',irr '. r.,~ri S~: 12) Sul (' i ;r-` i r ti,. _ t y 26•SD ihausmid ars per }'cnr q~,CPBL A I illy "'( 11 k P C ' ~` _ k `" ~ ,,,_r rr ~. u 1 ~ ()•25 ril0 U5rlnlt tort er aUf 1Yt t p Y k~9Ft~"~~k~!)'CuK~~'a~~er,-taiftsrde "~ ' ~ q 4 ~ ~., yy h f~ ., h ~`' ~ &~ '"GnP,... ~ .. ~' u: b I {z cT~ ~. - r~ ~A~~",z l .orb 1 c ~z - Turning coal into elecirrit:iity ,„,, ,,. `' ~ 3'~2 r , ,~;,~, '~"~~ ~°~` ,;== ~, The coal is dumped into a pipe (D) and to burners that ignite The power rs transmitted to'`~~ %y, y~'~,r~ ~'~~ ~~ "" • t .]3)CFuL :,i, ,r~ ~,~i ~ hopper and brought by conveyor the fuel mixture. (E) The hot air consumers through power ~ ,~ •, .~ ~'"~>~~,~,, belt to a bin that is emptied#rom enters the boiler in pipes (F) where lines and transformers. ~S~ '~ ~ ~ ,~'~ ~~ below. it heats the water to 1,000 de tees. ~ "~ ~~ '~ ' (A) The coal feeds into a The steams turns o turbine, 4 ~ 8) CI'F L ~ K - pulverizer where the coal~is turned activating a generator. ~~ ~ ~ fi`'` into the consistency of talcum ~ ~rfi~y~ ~ ~;;; 3 pThe po order is mixed with air (C). ~ ;x' ~`~ ~~ ~~, ~ .t ~Mx The powder is blown through a ~~, ,, : "ttu ~ ss~' • Once the cool is burned, the exhaust is cooled and the ' Pulverizer soot is electrically charged in o precipitator. That enables the plant to remove the soot before the gas is _" ~ released from smokestacks into the air. When sunlight heats two common Nitrogen oXideS air pollutants -nitrogen oxides and VOC Sources SoUrCes •volatile organic compounds (VOCs) - -- - ground-level ozone is formed by • Cars and trucks • Cars a chemical reaction in the air. • Gasoline fumes • Power plants The sun "cooks" these fumes and • Solvents • Industrial gases, transforming them into • Dry cleaners boilers ground-level ozone, a harmfuPgas. • Small engines. The red arrows above represent • Trees the nitrogen oxides. The orange ~ arrows represent VOCs. ROBERT W. AHRENS /The News & Observer BY L]tuSity SCHILL STAFF WRITER ' ' ' North Carolina's two largest ' ~ ~ ' ~ ' ' ~ ~ ~ utilities, Duke Power and Carolina Power & Light, could soon be ordered to spend hundreds ofmil- ,lions of dollars to curb pollution ' from their largest coal plants. The question is, who should '~ ` pay for such investments? In Texas, utilities and state decision-makers faced a similar ,.. . ~: problem -and found a solution. .. .. • . .. .;,., .: , :. , ,... Power companies in the Lone Star State mayrecover the money • . ' ~ they spend on stricter plant-emis- • ~ ~ ~ sion controls through~customers' bills. There's nothing new about that: Utilities have always used rates to help pay for investments. But in Texas, the clean air provi- sion was part of a new law that's opening up that state's electrici- . ty market to competition. ' ~ ~ ~ Efforts to reduce air pollution go hand in hand with deregula- . , ~ ~ tion of the power industry, said ~. ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ Mark MacLeod, director of state energy programs at the Envi- ' ronmental Defense Fund in .. . . .. . ... ..::. ....:.. .:. ~ at h p d craft Austin, a group e e ;;:.: ;. .. the Texas plan. . "There have been a number of • studies showing that with elec- . „ , .::.... .:.:...:.:: ..:.. , ......,. , : tric [deregulation], the tenden- ' cy is to get more production out : of these coal plants," he said. "If . you don't do something to coun- teract that as you're moving toward competition, you will lilce- ', ly increase air pollution." Many. coal plants in the United States were built decades ago and ` .. have grown relatively inexpensive to run over time as utilities have paid down the debt on them. They're also cheaper to operate .because Congress passed a law allowing them to run with fewer 'environmental controls than a modern plant would have. . Environmentalists now .' worry that power companies n, ,: :will rely more heavily on those • ~ .. "grandfathered" plants as they : ~ ~ ~ try to cut costs in a competitive • ~ environment. North Carolina has yet to dereg- ulate its power market but is studying whether to do so in the next few years. Most states are expected to dismantle their cen- fury-old power monopolies early next century to let customers choose their power provider much the way they pick along- distancephone company today. In Texas, power companies, environmental groups and law- makersagreed touse deregula- tion as avehicle to reduce emis- sionsfrom polluting plants. Utilities in that state are expected to spend more than $1 billion to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions 50 percent and sulfur dioxides 25 percent by 2003. The upgrades were included in the companies' so-called stranded- costplan, aprogram that lets them collect billions of dollars from customers to pay off plant investments on an accelerated schedule. If they didn't, those investments would become "stranded," orunrecoverable, in an open market, and the power. companies couldn't compete. The new emission controls will cost an average Texas consumer about 38 cents a month, MacLeod said. ' "We had been looking for some direction for how to reduce emis- sions, but there were also costs involved in this and we needed away to recover those costs," said Chris Schein, a spokesman for TXU, Texas' largest power company. "The restructuring of our industry provided anexcel- lentopportunity to do.that " The same thing can be done in North Carolina, said Richard Harkrader, a proponent of alter- native energy sources who serves on the state panel that's pondering deregulation. "The point of doing it this way is do it fast and without a lot of arguing -and to pay for it," he said. "We would get it out of the ~, way. Maybe so, but North Carolina's Duke Power says it is premature to discuss aTexas-style solution to new plant controls in this state. "Not knowing when and what shape restructuring is -going to take," said Buddy Davis, the util- ity's vice president. of environ- ment,health and safety, "we don't see it fitting into the picture here:' Sinlf writer Karin Schill can be reached at E29.4521 or kschill@nnndo.com