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Study: PGE Plant Contaminates Air in Northwest Parks

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Michael Milstein, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

May 23--Portland General Electric's coal-burning power plant near Boardman pollutes more than 10 protected parks and wilderness areas, including Mount Hood, Mount Rainier and Mount Jefferson, a new federal analysis found.

Haze from the plant obscures views as far away as Hells Canyon on the Idaho border, Snoqualmie Pass in Washington and the Strawberry Mountains near John Day, according to the research. Air in the wilderness areas is supposed to be protected as the cleanest in the nation.

The U.S. Forest Service commissioned the analysis and provided a copy to PGE, but so far has taken no action on it. The Oregonian obtained the results through the Freedom of Information Act.

The findings raise the likelihood that PGE will have to install millions of dollars worth of pollution controls on the Boardman plant, which was authorized in 1975 just in time to avoid toughened provisions of the federal Clean Air Act.

Federal authorities later admitted in a court case that the early authorization was a mistake.

Boardman is now one of only two major coal plants in the West without modern pollution controls such as scrubbers and no commitment to add them, said Patrick Cummins, air quality program manager for the Western Governors' Association.

PGE officials acknowledged the plant is probably contributing to haze and that they will address the problem if it's verified by another analysis, with newer data, planned by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

"If this shows the controls are necessary and required, we will put them on," said Mark Fryburg, environmental policy specialist with the company.

But that may take more than five years. The company has committed to accelerating the DEQ study, but not to adding controls on any expedited schedule.

Fitting the plant with scrubbers and other devices to capture compounds that create haze and acid rain could cost $150 million, Fryburg said. The plant, a major source of power and income for the Portland-based utility, has been off line since October because of breakdowns.

It's expected to be back in service later this month.

It has come under increasing scrutiny as a source of worsening air pollution in the Columbia River Gorge, plus acid rain and fog that eats away ancient Native American rock art.

Sulfur and nitrogen compounds may be scarcely visible rising from the plant's stack south of Interstate 84, but they react in the air to create smog-like haze. Researchers suspect emissions from the plant also combine with ammonia from a giant dairy complex nearby to create acid rain and fog documented in the gorge.

Officials at the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the gorge, said they were surprised at the wide effects of the plant's emissions.

"The number of wilderness areas affected is almost unprecedented," said James Russell, manager of air resources and smoke management in the Forest Service's regional office in Portland.

The examination used weather patterns to determine how pollution from the plant spreads.

Boardman's exhaust cannot be blamed for all pollution at the areas, because other sources such as urban vehicle traffic also add to the mix.

The analysis found the plant's emissions muddy views at least a few weeks a year in 10 different wilderness areas, plus Mount Rainier National Park and the Columbia Gorge, if compared against pristine conditions. Results showed that pollution from the plant affects visibility in the gorge 11 weeks a year, in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of northeastern Oregon about nine weeks a year and Mount Hood wildernesses about eight weeks a year.

Some areas, such as Mount Hood, typically enjoy clean air to begin with. But Boardman delivers enough haze there to stand out over and above other pollution for about seven weeks a year.

"Boardman's contributions on very clear days would be very noticeable," said Bob Bachman, an air quality meteorologist with the Forest Service when the analysis was done, since retired. "People can't fully enjoy the wilderness nature of these places because the vistas are impaired."

Wilderness areas and national parks hold the highest level of federal air quality protection. The gorge, a national scenic area, does not have the same status. Attempts to address gorge pollution have been beset by delays and budget shortages.

Boardman's pollution is extensive enough that federal land managers could seek controls on it.

Russell said the Forest Service will not demand controls on the Boardman plant, however, because the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is already moving in that direction under a federal initiative called the Regional Haze Rule.

It's designed to restore pristine conditions at national parks and wilderness areas such as Mount Hood by 2064.

The DEQ will conduct a new analysis of pollution patterns -- similar to the one done by the Forest Service -- and then assess what controls are warranted. PGE has volunteered to go through that examination first, producing results by this fall, Fryburg said.

The assessment of pollution controls will weigh the cost of retrofitting the plant against the likely benefits, he said.

"We owe it to our customers to be sure this is based on the best available information," he said.

The plant also faces proposed new rules that would force control of mercury emissions by 2018.

The DEQ must submit its findings on haze to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the end of 2007. The company would have five years after the EPA accepts the finding to install any controls that are needed. That would likely be about 2013.

But Bachman, who worked on a project to control pollution from a coal-burning power plant in Centralia, Wash., said it could happen sooner.

"If they had the will, it could be done in a few years," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Oregonian

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