TVA to cut coal plant emissions

TVA to cut coal plant emissions

BY DAVE FLESSNER
BUSINESS EDITOR

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Valley Authority officials decided Tuesday to spend a record $528 million in the next year to cut harmful emissions from its coal plants.

"This is probably the most aggressive pollution reduction program by any utility in the country," said Joe Bynum, TVA's executive vice president in charge of fossil plants.

But directors of the federal utility said they have no plans to phase out any of the aging power plants that environmentalists blame for much of the pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains.

"As long as our plants remain economical and they comply with the clean air requirements, they can keep running," Director Bill Baxter said.

Environmental leaders Tuesday welcomed the additional scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction units to be installed at TVA's 11 coal plants in the next year as part of the utility's $7 billion budget adopted Tuesday. Environmental spending by TVA will rise 22 percent next year. The pollution control equipment will reduce sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions linked with acid rain and also should reduce harmful mercury emissions, which may be regulated in future air pollution control laws, TVA officials said.

But environmentalists charged that TVA had reneged on earlier pledges to replace the oldest and dirtiest coal plants in the Tennessee Valley with cleaner sources of energy.

"What we see is TVA doing major maintenance upgrades to extend the life of these old plants"

far beyond what Congress envisioned when it adopted the Clean Air Act in 1977," said Will Callaway, executive director of the Tennessee Environmental Council and a former Senate staffer who helped work on air pollution bills in Congress a decade ago.

"The only reason that some of these plants were grandfathered in under the old laws and not subject to the new source standards is because TVA told the Congress in 1990 that they were going to phase out some of their plants," he said. "If they can't remember their history, we are going to have to force them to bring these old plants up to new-plant standards."

Two years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused TVA of violating air pollution laws by making upgrades to some of its older coal plants that went beyond routine maintenance. The older plants are not required to meet clean air requirements as strict as those for plants built after 1977.

The average age of TVA's coal plants is more than 40 years.

TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough said EPA "reinterpreted the law" when it cited TVA and six other utilities for violations of new source review standards for coal plants. After unsuccessful attempts to negotiate and mediate an agreement between TVA and EPA, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will have to decide whether EPA overstepped its authority in citing TVA or whether TVA will have to bring some of its older units up to today's stricter standards.

TVA President O.J. "Ike" Zeringue said TVA's hefty investment in pollution controls "is using most of the available craft workers for these type of improvements" and meeting any EPA order for new source standards would be cumbersome and expensive.

"We're committed to demonstrating leadership in promoting clean air, clear skies and a comprehensive approach to our environmental efforts," Mr. Baxter said. "But litigation is a lousy way to set public policy."

Ulla Reeves, regional air director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said lawsuits are needed to hold TVA accountable.

"Our fear is that with its $25 billion debt, TVA won't be able to do all that it wants to, and its future spending on clean air may be one of the first casualties," she said.

TVA directors voted Tuesday not to raise rates despite "a very challenging year ahead," Chief Financial Officer David Smith said.

In the current fiscal year, TVA will pay another $100 million down on its debt, but next year the agency expects to trim its debt only $75 million.