EPA: Power plant violated Clean Air Act
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Emissions from Duke Energy's William H. Zimmer coal-fired electricity generating plant have violated the Clean Air Act in 1996 and from 2002 to 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has charged.
Duke Energy, which operates the plant and shares ownership of it with Dayton Power & Light Co. and American Electric Power, said on Wednesday, April 30, that it disputes the EPA's findings and has requested a meeting to discuss them. No date for the meeting has been set, the EPA and Duke Energy said. The plant is located along the Ohio River in the village of Moscow, 27 miles southeast of Cincinnati.
Extras
The EPA sent a March 10 enforcement letter telling Duke Energy that emissions from the Zimmer plant violated federal clean-air limits for sulfur dioxide pollution and opacity, a measure of reduced visibility caused by airborne pollutant particles. Sulfur dioxide pollution can be an irritant for people with chronic respiratory ailments.
The plant's emissions may still be in violation of the law today, but the EPA has not analyzed current data, said Evan Chatfield, an enforcement staff member at the agency's Chicago regional office.
Duke Energy was surprised by the finding and contends that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the state equivalent of the federal EPA, had not told the company of any clean-air violations at Zimmer, Duke Energy spokesman Steve Brash said. The company is concerned that the U.S. EPA and the Ohio EPA have different interpretations of the plant emission data that Duke Energy provides to them, Brash said.
Duke Energy may have directly submitted some additional emission data to the U.S. EPA that the state regulators have not had an opportunity to analyze, said Bob Hodanbosi, chief of the Ohio EPA's division of air pollution control.
Violations by utilities of the Clean Air Act for extended periods can result in fines running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is too early in this case to discuss whether the EPA will fine Duke Energy, or how much those fines could be, said Brent Marable, an EPA enforcement section chief in Chicago.
DP&L wants any plant in which it has an interest to comply with the law, spokesman Tom Tatham said. DP&L will rely on Duke Energy to resolve the issue, as the operating partner at Zimmer, Tatham said.
About the Zimmer plant
Began operating in 1991. The three utilities had begun constructing it in 1972 as a nuclear generating plant, but decided in 1984 to convert it to a coal-fired facility after having spent $1.7 billion on what had become a problem-plagued nuclear project.
Duke Energy is the operating partner and owns 46.5 percent of Zimmer. Dayton Power & Light Co. owns 28.1 percent and American Electric Power, which serves central and southeastern Ohio, owns 25.4 percent.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
