DEP OKs scrubber installation plan
The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved Allegheny Energy Supply’s plan to install three scrubbers at its Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Greene County to reduce sulfur dioxide and particulate pollution. Also known as flue gas desulfurization systems, the scrubbers will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 255,000 tons and particulate matter by 1,900 tons a year after installation is complete, according to the DEP.
“These sharp emission reductions will bring about significant air quality improvements in southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Kenneth Bowman, DEP regional director.
Last week, Allegheny Energy said the scrubber installation project at coal-fired Hatfield’s Ferry would cost approximately $650 million, $100 million more than the company originally estimated, and the work will be completed in 2009.
The 1,710-megawatt Hatfield’s Ferry is located in Monongahela Township, just across the Monongahela River from Fayette County.
The Greensburg-based Allegheny Energy is the fifth largest emitter of sulfur dioxide and the 10th largest emitter of nitrogen dioxide in the nation, the DEP said. Nitrogen oxide is the key component in ground-level ozone, or smog.
Young children, the elderly, people with asthma or other lung ailments and people who work or exercise regularly outdoors are the most susceptible to the harmful effects of ground-level ozone, according to the DEP.
Scrubbers remove pollution by forcing flue gas through an absorber vessel before spraying it with a water slurry containing limestone. The calcium in the slurry reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form calcium sulfate, which is mixed with oxygen to create synthetic gypsum.
The remaining flue gas passes through a mist eliminator, which removes any liquid and particulate matter trapped in the liquid. The flue gas is then exhausted to a stack and released.
In June, the DEP filed a federal lawsuit that seeks to require Allegheny Energy to reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions at three coal-fired power plants in western Pennsylvania and bring them into compliance with state and federal air quality requirements.
The suit was filed after the DEP said its investigation found that the utility violated the federal Clean Air Act and Pennsylvania’s Air Pollution Control Act by making modifications to the three plants – Hatfield’s Ferry, Mitchell Power Plant in Washington County and Armstrong Power Plant in Armstrong County – without the required DEP approval.
The Clean Air Act requires factories and power plants to install state-of-the-art clean-air technology when they make major modifications that may increase pollution, the DEP said.
In May 2004, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York joined to notify Allegheny Energy of their intention to sue over alleged Clean Air Act violations at five coal-fired plants in West Virginia, as well as the Pennsylvania plants. Maryland also joined the lawsuit, which is pending in court.
Pennsylvania is seeking additional reductions in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter at the three facilities and civil penalties for alleged air quality violations, according to the DEP.