Air group sues EPA over citizen petition

Pollution permit for Weld County plant comes under attack

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 23, 2006 at midnight

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A Denver-based clean-air group took the EPA to court Wednesday, charging that the agency ignored a citizen petition that challenged a pollution permit for an Xcel power plant near Platteville in Weld County.

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action said the natural-gas-fired plant belches significant levels of smog- forming pollutants.

The permit for the plant fails to limit such emissions, as well as other toxic air pollutants and fails to require the necessary monitoring that protects human health, the group said in a statement Wednesday.

"Despite rising smog, the state continues to look the other way when it comes to air pollution," said Jeremy Nichols, director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action.

"It's time for the EPA to intervene and rein in this flawed permit."

Under federal clean-air laws, citizens have the right to petition the Environmental Protection Agency to object to certain state pollution permits.

Last July, Nichols petitioned the EPA to overturn the state permit. The EPA is supposed to grant or deny such petitions within 60 days.

But so far, the agency hasn't acted either way.

Dick Long, head of air and radiation programs for the EPA's regional office in Denver, said it's common for the EPA to miss the 60-day deadline because the agency gets deluged with such petitions.

Researching the issues involved is time-consuming, he said.

"We focus on getting the right answer, knowing that's probably more important than meeting a time frame," Long said.

He said the petition regarding the Xcel plant in Platteville has been at EPA's Washington, D.C., headquarters awaiting approval from management there.

He said he expects EPA to respond to the petition by the first week of January.

Margie Perkins, co-director of the state's Air Pollution Control Division, insisted that the state permit for the Xcel plant is valid and conforms to regulations.

"We applied appropriate terms and conditions to this permit," she said.

An Xcel Energy spokesman noted that the plant "is properly permitted and operating according to the permits and the law."

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., comes as Denver continues to struggle with smog levels in the summertime that have been approaching and sometimes exceeding federal health guidelines.

Air quality regulators have said that high levels next summer could trip the EPA's rolling three-year limit for smog pollution and throw Denver back onto the agency's list of dirty-air regions.

The power plant, known as the Fort St. Vrain Station, releases more than 5 million pounds of smog-forming pollutants a year.

The pollutants include 1,223 tons of nitrogen oxides, 1,196 tons of carbon monoxide, and 80 tons of volatile organic compounds, according to figures cited from the Colorado permit by Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action.

The group said the amount of nitrogen oxides spewed from the facility is equivalent to the amount that would be released by more than 64,000 cars, each driven 12,500 miles in a year.

Environmentalists say the state permit for the plant is flawed because, among other reasons, it doesn't require that Xcel use the "best available control technology" to cut nitrogen oxide pollution from one of its turbines.

"Sadly, this permit fails to hold Xcel accountable to reducing smog and toxic air pollution along the Front Range," Nichols said.

"We need the controls and the monitoring to make sure we're protected from air pollution."

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048

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