More
Kentucky Utilities, a coal-fired electric utility, has
agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $135 million
on pollution controls to resolve violations of the New Source Review provisions
of the Clean Air Act, the Department of Justice and the EPA announced Tuesday.
The utility agreed to install new pollution control equipment on its largest generating unit that will 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. It will also install controls to reduce particulate matter emissions by approximately 1,000 tons per year.
In a complaint filed in March of 2007, the government alleged that the utility modified the largest coal-fired electrical generating unit at the E. W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County, Ky., without installing required pollution control equipment or complying with applicable emission limits, in violation of the Clean Air Act. The unit has been operating since 1971, and the modifications made in 1997 allowed the unit to increase the amount of coal it burned and increase the amount and rate of emissions for SO2, NOX and particulate matter. The government discovered the violations through an information request submitted to the utility.
"This settlement will result in the substantial reduction of harmful emissions, and will benefit air quality in Kentucky and downwind areas," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Justice Department will spare no effort in its pursuit of emission reductions from power plants across the country to achieve the benefits envisioned by the Clean Air Act."
The utility will spend approximately $3 million on projects to benefit the environment and mitigate the adverse effects of the alleged violations.
The utility agreed to install new pollution control equipment on its largest generating unit that will 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. It will also install controls to reduce particulate matter emissions by approximately 1,000 tons per year.
In a complaint filed in March of 2007, the government alleged that the utility modified the largest coal-fired electrical generating unit at the E. W. Brown Generating Station in Mercer County, Ky., without installing required pollution control equipment or complying with applicable emission limits, in violation of the Clean Air Act. The unit has been operating since 1971, and the modifications made in 1997 allowed the unit to increase the amount of coal it burned and increase the amount and rate of emissions for SO2, NOX and particulate matter. The government discovered the violations through an information request submitted to the utility.
"This settlement will result in the substantial reduction of harmful emissions, and will benefit air quality in Kentucky and downwind areas," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Justice Department will spare no effort in its pursuit of emission reductions from power plants across the country to achieve the benefits envisioned by the Clean Air Act."
The utility will spend approximately $3 million on projects to benefit the environment and mitigate the adverse effects of the alleged violations.
View Pollution Engineering's popular 
