WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, October 13, 2011
Citizens to Speak out in Favor of North Dakota Clean Air Plan

Proposal Would Reduce Toxic Air Pollution, Protect Public Health, Clear the Haze
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303

“If you can see the air, it’s not clean.”—Wayde Schafer

Additional Contacts:

Wayde Schafer, Dacotah Chapter of the Sierra Club, (701) 530-9288

Dennis Kost, Children’s Health Task Force, (701) 527-3986

Bismarck—A proposed clean air plan for North Dakota would reduce 138,000 tons of toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants in the state, safeguard public health, and ensure North Dakota’s treasured skies are protected from visible haze pollution.

“This proposal is a big step forward in confronting air pollution from dirty coal in North Dakota,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians.  “This long overdue plan ensures that the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants in North Dakota are retrofitted with modern air pollution controls, providing a springboard for a healthier future.”

At a public hearing today in Bismarck, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comment on the clean air proposal, which largely approves a plan submitted by the North Dakota Department of Health, but also proposes additional controls to ensure harmful nitrogen oxide, or NOx, pollution is curtailed from coal-fired power plants.

Air pollution from coal-fired power plants cost North Dakota more than $1.5 billion every year because of the health impacts.  A report by the Clean Air Task Force in 2009 found that every year, coal-fired power plants put 207 people at risk of premature death, 321 at risk of heart attacks, and 3,500 at risk of asthma attacks, at a total cost of more than $1.5 billion (see, http://www.catf.us/coal/problems/power_plants/existing/map.php?state=North_Dakota).

The EPA’s plan would reduce nitrogen oxide pollution using top-tier emission controls at four coal-fired power plants—Coal Creek, Leland Olds, Milton Young, and Antelope Valley.  The plan also approves North Dakota’s proposal to further reduce emissions from three other coal-fired power plants—Stanton, Heskett, and Coyote.  Most of these plants burn lignite, the dirtiest form of coal.

“This haze plan will save lives and protect our treasured landscape,” said Wade Schafer of the Dacotah Chapter of the Sierra Club.  “In turn, the plan ensures North Dakota’s air stays as clean as possible using cost-effective pollution controls, protecting today’s and future generations.”

Although the impetus for the EPA’s proposal is a program under the Clean Air Act aimed at reducing haze pollution in National Parks and Wilderness Areas, the same pollutants that form haze are also responsible for smog, acid rain, and deadly particulate matter pollution.

The overall plan would cut emissions of three main pollutants, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, and particulate matter.  In total, cleaning up the coal-fired power plants in North Dakota will cut sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 98,000 tons/year and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 40,000 tons/year.  This will be like taking 2,094,240 cars off the road (according to the EPA, a passenger vehicle emits 38.2 pounds of nitrogen oxides annually, http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/f00013.htm).

The plan would markedly improve visibility in treasured landscapes, such as North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

“North Dakota deserves the cleanest air possible,” said Dennis Kost with the Children’s Health Task Force.  “This isn’t a choice between clean air or affordable energy.  In North Dakota, we need both and that’s why it behooves us to ensure we’re doing everything we can to cost-effectively control emissions.”

In disapproving portions of North Dakota’s plan, the EPA found that the state failed to accurately assess the costs of air pollution controls and failed to comply with other provisions of the Clean Air Act.  Under the Clean Air Act, states normally develop clean air plans.  However, where such plans are inconsistent with the law, the EPA is legally obligated to develop a federal plan. 

The EPA is taking public comment on its plan until November 21, 2011. The EPA is under a legal deadline to take final action to approve its plan by mid-February 2012.