Dirtier plants may get state OK

By Carrie Peyton, Bee Staff Writer

(Published Feb. 8, 2001)

Letting the air stay dirtier longer around power plants could be the next trade-off to help keep California's electricity flowing.

As early as today, Gov. Gray Davis could announce delays in installing pollution controls on some power plants.

At stake is how many tons of nitrogen oxides -- a key ingredient of smog --will be allowed to pour out of smokestacks at power plants along the San Francisco and Monterey bays.

The state Independent System Operator, which is charged with preventing power outages, has asked plant owners to delay long-scheduled shut-downs to install emissions-control equipment.

Some of the work had been planned to start next month and stretch into June, when early heat waves could send demand for electricity soaring.

Plant owners, air pollution officials and grid officials have been in discussions for days over the costs and repercussions of postponements.

"Everybody is trying to move toward some reasonable accommodation for the provision of power," said Jeremy Dreier, a spokesman for Duke Energy, which owns a large power plant at Moss Landing that would be affected.

Duke is considering delaying long-scheduled work if it can get Monterey air-pollution watchdogs to ease a rule that requires it to reduce nitrogen oxides, or NOx, emissions 90 percent by the end of this year.

Mirant Corp., which owns several Bay Area power plants, believes it would face penalties from its suppliers and years of rescheduling problems if it puts off similar work on a Contra Costa power plant, spokesman Chuck Griffin said.

"We have no plans to delay it at this time. ... It creates a bigger picture problem if we do," he said.

The Duke installation would take 750 megawatts off line, and the Mirant work would shut down 340 megawatts. Each job affects just one unit at multiple-unit power plants.

Statewide, 16 units that can generate a combined 5,225 megawatts -- more than 10 percent of the state's power output -- are scheduled to be shut down sometime this year for installation of selective catalytic reduction equipment that limits NOx, according to Tracy Bibb, the ISO's director of operating engineering and maintenance.

"Those controls take a long time to install, and you have to tune them" afterward, said Jim Detmers, who runs the ISO grid operations.

"We have to defer some of that NOx work -- we have to," he said.

Air-quality officials are open to exploring options, said Douglas Quetin, air pollution control officer of the Monterey Bay air district.

"We've had discussions with Duke, with the ISO, with the (state) Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission staff," he said.

"In this really unusual situation California has found itself in, our worry is people will run diesel generators instead of running power plants. The discussion really hinges on what's the trade-off," he said.

If plant shutdowns trigger blackouts or power emergencies, he said, businesses might use backup generators that are 300 to 400 times more polluting than a large power plant. Diesel generators emit both NOx and tiny particles of toxic air contaminants, he said.

In addition, the Monterey air board will have to weigh the impacts of regular blackouts against other health issues, Quetin said.

"We have to consider the much larger picture. It complicates what we do a good deal," he said.

The scheduled work at the Moss Landing unit would cut its NOx emissions to between 1 and 1.5 tons per day, from a current 5 to 7 tons. Reducing NOx, one of the primary ingredients of smog, would ease respiratory problems in surrounding areas, Quetin said.

Monterey air board staffers probably will make a recommendation to the board in mid-March, but state officials indicated action could come much sooner.

"Most of the people who have knowledge about this are going back and forth between the Governor's Office," said Gennet Osborn, a state Air Resources Board spokeswoman.

She said no one within the state agency would talk Wednesday about the state's role in pollution discussions because "the governor is going to be presenting something tomorrow."

Davis' office said Wednesday that the governor will unveil his plans today for boosting power generation this summer, when it is widely feared warm-weather demand could outstrip the state's supply.

-- Swissrose (cellier@azstarnet.com), February 08, 2001