Alabama Power defends pollution cuts as N.C. seeks EPA action

Alabama Power defends pollution cuts as N.C. seeks EPA action

By GARRY MITCHELL Associated Press Writer March 18, 2004

Alabama Power Co. defended its emissions-reduction effort Thursday at coal-fired plants in the state as North Carolina blamed other states for fouling its air and turned to the EPA for a pollution enforcement order.

North Carolina's governor and attorney general asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force power plants in Alabama and a dozen other states to reduce air pollution, saying it's harming air quality in North Carolina.

Alabama Power spokesman Michael Sznajderman of Birmingham said the utility has installed some new equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and is "in the midst of spending more than $500 million on technology" to reduce the pollution.

"We also expect to spend about a billion dollars to further reduce emissions between now and 2010," Sznajderman said in a telephone interview.

He said the additional equipment being installed is to address regional air quality issues in the Southeast.

"We believe that when we complete all of the emissions reductions under our ongoing initiatives that we should achieve results comparable to those mandated in North Carolina under their Clean Smokestacks Act," Sznajderman said.

Scott Hughes, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, described North Carolina's EPA petition as "unwarranted."

He said the EPA has proposed the Interstate Air Quality rule.

"We feel like promulgation of the Interstate Air Quality rule will do what North Carolina is trying to do with it's petition," Hughes said. "I don't think anybody would argue with the point that air pollutants don't just stop at air boundaries, but again the Interstate Air Quality rule is addressing those issues in 29 southeastern states."

Since 1990, Alabama Power, owned by Atlanta-based Southern Company, has reduced its emission rates of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide by 47 percent, Sznajderman said.

Sulfur dioxide contributes to acid rain. Nitrogen oxide contributes to smog.

"We've cut it nearly in half and at the same time we've had to boost our generation to meet demands for electricity," he said.

The utility's six coal-fired generating plants are located in Jefferson, Walker, Shelby, Etowah, Greene and Mobile counties.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, with 11 fossil plants, serves parts of north Alabama. Two of the coal-fired plants are near Bridgeport and in Colbert County.

In February, the EPA petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to be allowed to order TVA to clean up its coal-fired power plants. Alabama Power also has been sued by EPA, but a decision in that case has been delayed pending a TVA ruling.

But the Justice Department recently filed a motion to reactivate the Alabama Power case involving plant maintenance issues.

"We argue that the case should remain on hold since the TVA case is before the Supreme Court," Sznajderman said. "The issues are very similar."

The coal-fired plants named in a petition filed Thursday by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper are located in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

North Carolina's petition is permitted by the federal Clean Air Act, which says states have a right to petition the EPA administrator to address pollution from out-of-state sources.

If EPA grants the petition, the agency will mandate emissions limitations for the out-of-state air pollution. EPA has 60 days to respond to the petition.