EPA Sues Coal-Burning Plant Over Air Pollution

Source: Post-Gazette

Past and present owners of one of the nation's dirtiest power plants in Homer City, Indiana County, have been sued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for operating for decades without required federal permits or adequate pollution controls.

The lawsuit claims the plant failed to meet federal pollution standards as far back as the early 1990s and its owners should be required to pay fines of up to $37,500 per day per violation.
The EPA lawsuit, which was joined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the New York attorney general, said emissions from the 1,884-megawatt power plant operated by EME Homer City Generating LP harm public health and the environment, contribute to premature mortality and asthma attacks and generate acid rain among other "adverse effects in downwind communities and natural areas."

It also says annual emissions of about 100,000 tons of sulfur dioxide pollution alone from the Homer City plant makes it "one of the largest air pollution sources in the nation."
The civil lawsuit was filed on EPA's behalf by the U.S. Justice Department Thursday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. It names EME along with eight limited liability corporate owners and prior owners, including Pennsylvania Electric Co. and New York State Electric & Gas Corp.
"The Clean Air Act was intended by Congress to protect the public from air pollution, including pollution from large sources of emissions like coal-fired power plants," Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a news release. "We are taking this step to protect the quality of the air people breathe not only in Homer City, but also in the communities that are located downwind of this power plant."

The power plant has three units, two of which do not have pollution control equipment known as "scrubbers" to remove sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from emissions. State of the art pollution controls could reduce those emissions by 95 percent, which would represent a 1 percent decline in sulfur dioxide pollution nationwide, said EPA spokeswoman Bonnie Smith of Region III in Philadelphia.

The lawsuit states that former owners and operators modified the plant in the 1990s, before EME Homer City took over operations in 1999, without installing "best available technology," as federal Clean Air Act regulations require. Those modifications were made without requesting or receiving proper permits, it states, and EME continued operating the plant without ever seeking or obtaining proper permits for the modifications or upgrades.

Because of those "unlawful modifications," the lawsuit states, significant amounts of sulfur dioxide and fine particle pollution continue to be emitted by the 42-year-old power plant.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a news release Thursday that the emissions from the Homer City power plant are transported by prevailing winds and endangering the health of Empire State residents.

"The owners of this power plant have repeatedly thumbed their noses at clean air laws, while dumping more than double the sulfur dioxide pollution into our air and lungs as all of the power plants operating in New York combined," Mr Schneiderman said. "This lawsuit reflects my commitment, holding the owners of the Homer City power plant accountable for breaking the law, and polluting the air that New Yorkers breathe."

Charley Parnell, spokesman for Edison Mission Energy, or EME, based on Santa Anna, Calif., said the company has yet to review the suit and does not comment on current litigation.