Mirant can’t trade its way to cleaner air, say environmental, public health advocates

Richmond – Virginia should not allow Mirant's Potomac River Generating Station to trade emissions credits that would allow the company to continue to pollute Northern Virginia's air, environmental and public health groups said today. In comments filed with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of a coalition of organizations, pushed the state to go forward with regulations that will require power plants in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone and soot to install the necessary pollution controls to comply with federal limits instead of trading credits with sources elsewhere.

"Northern Virginians are forced to breathe unhealthy air every day, largely due to old, dirty power plants like Mirant's Potomac River facility. We applaud the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for developing strong and innovative rules to bring the region's air up to federal health standards. We're encouraging the state to go forward with these rules, and not bend to pressure from Mirant to weaken these critical protections," said Cale Jaffe, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Virginia's regulations would not allow pollution sources in areas that are already in "nonattainment" to meet caps on pollution by the trading of emissions credits with other facilities. Instead, these sources would have to reduce the amount of pollution they emit until air quality improved. The DEQ regulations were set to go into effect on April 18, 2007, but were suspended in response to a petition filed by the Mirant Corporation. DEQ then sought comments from the public on possible changes to these regulations. That comment period ends today.

Currently, the Northern Virginia region, where the Mirant Potomac River Generating Station is located, is in "nonattainment" of the federal ozone and fine particulate matter standards. The Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee, which is responsible for developing an air quality plan, has determined that it will need these additional controls from Virginia to meet health-based standards for the Metro D.C. area. Last year the ozone standard in Northern Virginia violated public health limits 51 times – more than three-quarters of the total violations statewide.

Mirant’s Potomac River facility is an old, coal-burning power plant operating in Alexandria but provides no electricity to Virginia customers. A known contributor to ozone and fine particulate matter pollution, the plant has long been on the state’s list of high priority violators of federal and state regulations. Beginning next month, the U.S. Department of Energy says that the facility will no longer be needed to ensure electric reliability for the Washington, D.C. region.