Showdown at DEQ
OG&E and the Environmental Protection Agency are once again at odds. The question: whether the EPA-prescribed scrubbers for OG&E’s two coal plants are worth the billion-dollar price tag.
The sticking point: a regulation adopted by EPA in 1999 calls for restoring visibility in national parks and wilderness areas to “natural conditions” by 2064. The scrubbers would be required for those coal plants to have any chance of meeting the standards.
OG&E says, though, that it’s planning to mothball those plants by 2026 anyway and switch over to natural gas, which doesn’t produce the sulfur-compound emissions that cause the haze. It’s a win-win, says the company: compliance comes ahead of schedule, and the ratepayers don’t have to be soaked. The EPA’s position seems to be “But what about right now?”
On the utility’s side: the usual suspects — other electric companies, suppliers of natural gas — plus, says OG&E, the Sierra Club, which places a high priority on getting away from coal altogether.
The Department of Environmental Quality, which is supposed to come up with a state plan to meet that EPA regulation, will hold a hearing today.
sya »
16 December 2009 · 10:34 am
For some reason, I’m thinking back on advice somebody gave me about giving science talks: talk about what you’ve done, not what you will do.