Coal-fired plant in Oregon could shut down early

PORTLAND – Facing a Sierra Club lawsuit and heightened federal scrutiny of its Boardman coal-fired generating plant, Portland General Electric has drafted a much firmer proposal to close Oregon’s only coal plant by Dec. 31, 2020, at least 20 years earlier than anticipated.

The new plan also tightens controls on sulfur dioxide pollution from 2018 to 2020. And it has backing from the Oregon Environmental Council, the Citizens’ Utility Board and other groups, raising the possibility of ending a battle that has raged for years.

To secure the groups’ endorsements, PGE committed to working with them to try to find renewable replacement power, instead of just switching to natural gas.

On Friday, the Department of Environmental Quality reopened its public comment period on its regional haze rule to consider PGE’s latest proposal. The Environmental Quality Commission is expected to rule on Boardman’s required pollution controls in December.

Until PGE’s latest offer, Oregon’s largest electric utility would have retained the option to install $500 million in pollution controls and keep operating through at least 2040, said Andy Ginsburg, DEQ’s air quality administrator.

The new offer, if approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, explicitly repeals the 2040 option in exchange for less pollution control – under $100 million – and closing early, Ginsburg said.

PGE could request the 2040 option again in coming years if the Sierra Club’s lawsuit or new federal rules upped the ante on pollution controls, a point the utility made clear in its offer to DEQ. But the regulatory hurdles would be formidable, Ginsburg said.

“From a practical standpoint,” he said, “if the commission accepts this option, they’re going to be closing no later than 2020.”

Even with fewer controls, Boardman’s pollution over the rest of its operating life would be lower if it closed in 2020 than if PGE installed more controls and operated the plant through 2040, Ginsburg said.

The lawsuit from the Sierra Club, Friends of the Columbia Gorge and three other environmental groups alleges that PGE should have installed a full suite of pollution controls years ago, including a $300 million scrubber that would knock down sulfur dioxide emissions by at least 80 percent.

Earlier this month, the EPA backed up that assertion, issuing a notice of violation that accused PGE of operating the plant without adequate controls since 1998.

The Oregon Environmental Council signed on to PGE’s latest proposal but was careful to say it wasn’t ruling out a closure earlier than 2020.

Jana Gastellum, OEC’s global warming program director, said the council thinks PGE’s removal of the 2040 option and its commitment to explore renewable alternatives is significant.

“If we just keep slapping up natural gas plants as a replacement and don’t maximize energy efficiency and renewables, over time we’ll get growth in emissions,” Gastellum said. “We’ve gotten climate change inserted into the conversation.”