Utah Coal-fired Power Plants Threatening Clean Air

WildEarth Guardians Files Suit to Spur Overdue Clean up of State's Largest Polluters

Denver—As clean air continues to be at risk in Utah, WildEarth Guardians today filed suit to compel a long overdue clean up of two of the state’s largest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. 

“It’s time to stop sacrificing our clean air to polluters,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director.  “With coal-fired power plants taking a terrible toll on our skies in Utah and in other western states, we can’t afford to delay clean up.”

The suit targets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to ensure the Hunter and Huntington coal-fired power plants in central Utah are retrofitted with modern pollution controls.  Primarily owned and operated by Pacificorp, the power plants are two of the state’s largest sources of air pollution, putting public health and the region’s air quality at great risk.

Every year, the power plants release nearly 20,000 tons of nitrogen oxide gases, equal to the amount released by more than 2.1 million cars (according to the Environmental Protection Agency, an average passenger vehicles releases 18.2 pounds of nitrogen oxides annually).  Nitrogen oxides not only form haze, but also create particulate pollution and ground-level ozone (the key ingredient of smog), and damage human respiratory systems.

Pollution from both Hunter and Huntington is linked to hazy skies in some of Utah’s most iconic landscapes, including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

With modern pollution controls, these emissions could be reduced by 90% or more.

In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency disapproved a plan by the State of Utah that would have allowed PacifiCorp to avoid having to clean up the Hunter and Huntington power plants.  The disapproval triggered a two-year deadline for the state to fix the flaws in its plan. 

More than two years later, Utah still hasn’t made the repairs and put the coal-fired power plants on the path to clean air.

“Utah continues to drag its feet when it comes to safeguarding clean air, putting public health and the state’s iconic parks at risk,” said Nichols.  “Since the state seems unable or unwilling to actually make PacifiCorp own up to its pollution, it’s time for the Environmental Protection Agency to put its foot down.”  

Under the Clean Air Act, where states fail to meet their deadlines, the Environmental Protection Agency has a mandatory duty to intervene and put in place its own federal plan.  Effectively, where states fail to protect clean air, the federal government has a duty to step in to get the job done.

Today’s suit was filed in federal court in Colorado, which is where the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Office is located.


 

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