OR has Stake in EPA’s Smog Crackdown
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March 15, 2010
PORTLAND, Ore. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recommending tougher standards to clean up ground-level ozone pollution, commonly known as smog, and public comments are being accepted on the proposal for one more week. Ground-level ozone has been linked to serious health problems and global warming. The two biggest sources are vehicles and power plants that burn coal.
The Sierra Club predicts the Columbia Gorge couldn't meet the new standards because of pollution generated by Portland General Electric's (PGE) coal plant in Boardman. The company has said it will close the Boardman plant by 2020, but Robin Everett, Oregon organizer for the Sierra Club "Beyond Coal" campaign, contends that's not fast enough.
"What PGE wants to do is, in exchange for closing down in 2020, have another 10 years of being the largest polluter of very dangerous toxics in our air. We don't think that that is appropriate; we think that Oregon deserves better."
The EPA proposal would lower allowable nitrogen oxide levels by 20 percent. Everett says it would improve air quality, especially for people with asthma and other respiratory problems, and would send counties scrambling to meet the stricter requirements.
Although PGE is using some other, cleaner forms of power, the company has been unwilling to take coal out of the mix, she adds.
"PGE is doing a lot on renewable energy. But unfortunately, they have this dirty secret: Almost 25 percent of their energy comes from coal. It's time to start backing off of the dirty energy and really ramp up on efficiency and renewables."
PGE says it will install pollution controls next year to cut smog-causing emissions by half, but contends that closing the plant sooner than 2020 would threaten the reliability of its power supply to customers.
The Sierra Club will host a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 16 at its office, SE Ankeny St., Portland, about the plant's effects on health and the environment.
The public comment deadline for the new EPA rule is March 22. More information and a link to the public comment page is at http://epa.gov/air/ozonepollution.