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KU to spend millions at Mercer plant

February 05, 2009|DAVID BROCK

HARRODSBURG - Kentucky Utilities has agreed to spend $135 million to upgrade its Mercer County power plant and to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty in a settlement reached with the U.S. government.

The Environmental Protection Agency claimed that the E.W. Brown Generating Station on Dix Dam Road was in violation of the Clean Air Act after its largest coal-fired electrical generating unit was modified in 1997.

A complaint filed in 2007 alleged that the modifications, which allowed the generating station to burn more coal, also increased the amount of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions.

The EPA said sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain, smog and haze and contribute to respiratory problems and childhood asthma.

KU does not admit guilt in the settlement reached in U.S. District Court but instead agrees to make numerous changes at the plant and give up emissions allowances. The federal or state government grants coal-fired plants allowances for emitting sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

According to the EPA, KU agreed to install pollution-control equipment on its largest generating unit that should reduce combined emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by more than 31,000 tons per year, which is 90 percent below the 2007 emission levels. KU also must install controls to reduce particulate matter emissions by about 1,000 tons per year.

The company must undertake measures to offset the alleged pollution and must forfeit nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide allowances.

The consent decree stipulates that KU should implement the nitrogen oxide controls no later than Dec. 31, 2012, and install a device for limiting sulfur dioxide beginning no later than Dec. 31, 2010.

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SO YOU KNOW

KU will undertake several projects to benefit the environment and mitigate the adverse effects of the alleged violations:

* Contribute $1.8 million to a pilot project on the effectiveness of storing compressed carbon dioxide gas, a by-product of coal combustion, in deep injection wells.

* Spend $1 million to retrofit school buses with filters or other controls to reduce emissions of particulate matter.

* Pay $200,000 to the National Park Service to help restore Mammoth Cave National Park.

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