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Lewes, Delaware
Jim's Towing Service
June 9, 2000     Cape Gazette
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June 9, 2000
 
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Future of IR power plant emissions Hes with NRG Energy By Jim Cresson Although Conectiv officials say the company has spent $86.7 mil- lion on pollution control systems at its electric generating plants over the years, experts studying the state's heaviest polluter say it would take many millions more in expenditures for the utility to sub- stantially reduce its smokestack pollution.. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently study- ing oil- and coal-fired power gen- erating plants, such as Conecfiv's Indian River and Edgemoor p!an in Delaware, and may beheading toward, requiring such plants to implement maximum achievable control technology (MACT) sys- tems to greatly reduce , emissions of air pollutants. The EPA is also locked in a fed- eral court battle on its proposal to require power plants in the North- east to lower their air emissions. Arguing against the effort are the big power plants of the Northeast, which claim their emissions con- trois are already fight enough and that much of the air pollution and. acid rain over the Northeast comes from'Ohio:River Valley power plants which they say need more pollution control systems on their stacks. To reduce air emissions, Indian River plant's four coal-fired boil- ers already use Iow-NOx (nitro- gen, oxide) burners, over-fire air devices to c0oi flames and boil- ers, selective noncatalytic reduc- tion (SNCR), which involves spraying urea into the boilers to reduce nitrogen oxide, and elec- trostatic precipitators to reduce particulate matter. Wfiat federal air quality regula - torsmay-or oil- and+. coal-fired power plants in this area is the installation of scrub- bers on each smoke stack to re- move sulfur and the installation of selective catalytic recovery sys- tems to lower both nitrogen oxide and sulfur. Those opposed to any require- ment of scrubbers on smoke stacks claim that they create their own type Of industrial pollution, as they require a huge number of trucks bringing limestone to the plant where it must be crushed and put into the scrubbers as a fil- tering agent. Moreover, when ni- trogen oxide and sulfur are re- tained in the limestone, it creates a gypsum byproduct that could be useful as a marketable cement in- gredient, but it would ha,e to be trucked out again. Many experts in the field of en- ergy generation foresee an end to coal-fired boilers as the best, and most probable, solutionto lower- ing air pollutants. However, they say the costs of converting an ex- isting coal-fired power plant - such as Indian River or Edgemoor - would be nearly prohibitive for even the largest energy corpora- tions. What will the future hold for In- dian River Power trent. ,. Sen. Geti+gel-l, Bunting Jr.,q- Bethany Beach, sent a formal 1 ter, May 23, to officials of N-R Energy - the Minneapolis-based public-held company that has signed an agreement to purchase the IR plant and other Conectiv holdings for $800 million - asking them to answer that key question. "I want to keep that plant open, and am hopeful NRG Energy has plans to do that, while also mak- ing it a cleaner operation," Bunting said. "My letter said there is alot of public interest in Indian River's emissions, and I'm asking for a meeting with them so they can ex- Its www.nrgenergy, com Web site lists a portfolio consisting of 183 facilities in operation, under con-' struction or subject t 9 signed ac- quisition agreements representing about 28,721 megawatts of in- stalled capacity. The company notes on its Web site that "NRG Energy's portfolio of projects uses such diverse fuel sources as fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, coal and coal-seam' methane) and green power renew- able fuels such as wind, hydro, biorhass and landfill gas as well as refusderived fuels and geother- . real 00ergy." ."We use state=of-the-art tech- nologies to produce low-cost en- ergy in an environmentally re- sponsible manner," reads the Web site. "We specialize in the devel- opment, construction, operation, maintehance and ownership of power production and transmis- sion facilities." Questions put to NRG Energy about their intentions for the Indi- an Riv.er plant when they take over>its operation later thig went unanswered for the-last:thrge weeks. NRG Energy public spokeswoman Meredith Moore said June 8 that: "The Conectiv deal is not closed yet, and we haven't any substantial plans for changes at the facility." A review of NRG Energy's power plants in the United States shows that 75 percent of their en- ergy generation plants use a fuel other than coal. Of the company's nine plants in California, six use natural gas as a fuel, two use bio- mass and one uses bituminous coal. Of the company's eight plants in Connecticut, six-use jet fuel and two use oil or gas. The plailLtheir.Jnteatiog forJ.ti.dJga. +_ tbt:e¢ bIRg3_Enersy plaats JalJ.- River." nois use natural gas. Of the two NRG Energy is a worldwide plants in Louisiana, one uses coal power utility company with facili- and gas; the other uses natural ties in 15 countries inEurope, gas. Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Of NRG's two plants in Massa- Dennis Fomey photo Conectiv's Indian- River power plant, considered the worst polluter in Delaware, should be under new ownership by the end of this year. chusetts, one uses a combination of fuel sources including coal, oil and jet fuel; the other, which is idle, used coal. NRG's two Maine plants use refuse-derived fuel. Its plant in Michigan uses wood fuel. Its two.existing New Jersey plants use natural gas. Of its six New York plants, two use natural gas or oil, one uses oil, gas and kerosene, one uses hydro and two use bituminous coal. NRG's two Oklahoma plants use natural gas. Its existing two Penn- sylvania plants use natural gas, oil, diesel and methane fuels. NRG has agreed to purchase Conectiv's coal-fired Indian River plant, its oil-fired Vienna (Md.) plant, its coal- and oil-fired BL England plant and its coal-, gas- and oil-fired Deepwater plant in New Jersey, its coal-, oil- and gas- fired Conemaugh plant and coal- and oil-fired Keystone II plant in federal regulators are trying to tighten controls on those opera- tions. David Fees, Toxic Release In- vent0ry program-coordinator for the Delaware Department of Nat- ural Resources and Environmen- tal Control, said he is hopeful NRG Energy is able to initiate ways to clean up emissions at In- dian River. ...... Bruce Burcat of the Delaware Public Service Commission (PSC), which regulates all utilities in the state, said this week the commission has already requested an opinion from the Pennsylva- nia-Jersey-Maryland (PJM) pow- er grid-as to whether the NRG purchase of Conectiv's Indian River plant and other operations Within the grid would affect the reliability of power generation and transmission, as well as mar- ket power concerns Pennsylvania. .+ .... "We expect a reply from PJM If the deal is concluded, NRG within a month," said Burcat. "We Energy will have substantially will also ask NRG Energy to ap- raised its percentage of coal- and pear before us and answer some oil-fired power plants among its questions we have about their in- U.S. portfolio, all at a time when tentions." Michael Short photo i Cape Henlopen State Park showcases new entrance Cape Henlopen State Park has unveiled its new entrance sign, one Of the erownifig touches on an almost totally revamped entranceway. The entrance roads have been re-aligned in or- der to better move traffic throughout the park and the new pavement replaced pavement that dated back to the Second World War in some instances. Shown with the new park sign are (l-r) Construction Project Manager Joe Kline; Cape Henlolen State Park Manager Paul Faircloth, Delaware Parks Chief of Design and Developmdnt Britt Murray, Rep. John Schroeder, who helped provide funds for the changes, and Delaware Parks Director of Plan- ning, Preservation and Development Mark Chura. Cape Henlopen State Park New Traffic Pattern This illustration shows the new traffic pattern at the en- trance to Cape Henlopen State Park. The new pattern is de- signed to reduce traffic backups and make it easier for traffic to flow through the park's entrance. The roads have been repaved, the toll booth has been moved further inland and there are plans to bury the overhead utility lines in that area.