On Thursday, state regulators could determine the future of Plant McIntosh, Georgia Power’s electric plant in Rincon.
The aging facility is one of many issues addressed in Georgia Power’s controversial 20-year operating plan, on which the Public Service Commission is scheduled to vote.
While 15 units in five other plants around the state are slated for closure, Georgia Power proposes keeping the coal-burning unit at the Rincon facility open while switching its fuel from Central Appalachian coal to cleaner burning Powder River Basin coal.
But the Sierra Club argues for the unit’s shutdown based on the pollution it produces, its cost to ratepayers and the fact that it was mothballed for all of 2012.
“Even when it’s shut down we’re still paying for it monthly,” said Seth Gunning, organizer of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “Georgia Power’s own analysis found that keeping it on line was only marginally better than retiring it, and that’s with assumptions we find ludicrous. Closing it is better for the Savannah area, to help clean the air and to keep power bills as low as possible.”
Other units at Mcintosh operate with natural gas and are not targeted for closure.
Georgia Power evaluated many factors, including environmental regulations, fuel considerations and economic analyses in creating its 20-year plan, said company spokesman Mark Williams.
“For Plant McIntosh, the company evaluated all of these factors, which includes existing and pending environmental regulations, including the SO2 National Ambient Air Quality Standards, and concluded that switching the unit to Powder River Basin coal will be in compliance with these regulations and be economic,” Williams said. “This decision is an effective part of the environmental compliance strategy and continues our focus on providing affordable and reliable electricity for our customers.”
The Sierra Club’s modeling of air pollution from McIntosh, released last week, shows the area around the plant could exceed federal health standards for sulfur dioxide if the coal-burning unit was operated to the fullest extent of its state-issued permit. A map accompanying the report shows 11 schools, six health facilities and three parks in the excess sulfur dioxide outfall.
Sulfur dioxide can hamper lung function and even short exposures can prove problematic for people with asthma, making it difficult for them to breathe.
The Sierra Club’s model is a worst case using allowable emission rates, said Keith Bentley, who became chief of the Environmental Protection Division’s air branch on July 1.
“All you can say from the model is there’s a potential issue,” he said, pointing out that the actual sulfur dioxide emissions are much lower.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued the new, more protective sulfur dioxide standard in 2010 and since then has been working with states on how to implement it and ensure compliance, Bentley said.
“Until we’re through the process, we can’t say action is needed on anybody’s part,” he said. “There’s a statewide analysis we have to go though. Ultimately, yes, the permit will have to be protective of this air quality standard.”
While the Sierra Club’s modeling uses the permit’s maximum allowances, it’s conservative in other respects, including the omission of background concentrations and off-site sources of sulfur dioxide, said Ashten Bailey, a staff attorney with GreenLaw, which represents the Sierra Club.
“(EPD) has said the current state implementation plan is protective enough to ensure compliance,” Bailey said. “As the modeling shows, it’s not.”
Karen Grainey, leader of the Sierra Club coastal group, wants the permit to eliminate the potential issue.
“The question is, you’ve given them a permit so they could run up to the level of the permit,” she said. “The fact that they don’t think they really will is beside the point, Otherwise, what’s the point of a permit?”
Even if the Public Service Commission signs off on the continued operation of McIntosh in Thursday’s vote, the economics of the facility will resurface soon, Grainey said.
“In the fall (Georgia Power) will have to do a rate case to justify how much they’re charging and this will come up again,” she said. “We’ll make the case they’re charging us to keep this unit in working order, staffed and maintained should they decide they want to operate it.”