Denver EPA officials tour Hunter power plant

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

Three representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency from Denver took a tour of the Hunter Plant today. Plant Manager Laren Huntsman led the tour and explained the workings of the coal fired power plant to them. The tour was part of a process to educate the public and federal officials that coal is not the demon portrayed by the environmental community.
These representatives came to the county at the invitation of Commissioner Keith Brady. Commissioner Brady approached the EPA at the hearings held during the winter where public comments were taken concerning regional haze.
Monica Morales, Shaun McGrath and Rich Mylott toured the Hunter Plant. They were treated to a lunch catered by BK catering, Kent and Julie Wilson before the tour.
Huntsman said, “Thanks for being here so we can showcase what we do. We are not a big polluter. We are very proactive to be compliant. The tour will include the coal mills and the boiler room. We’ll give you a feel for the pollution controls that are in place. We’ll go to the turbine deck and the control room. This plant has three units. Units one and two are identical. Units one and two have a fixed boiler by Westinghouse. Unit three has a General Electric turbine and natural circulation boiler.
Water is heated in stages in the boiler, superheated steam turns the turbines and the generator puts the power out into the lines. The condensed water goes back through the cycle, being cooled and then reused.
State Senator David Hinkins thanked the power plant workers for protecting the public from the environment. That’s what electricity does, it enables us to use heaters to keep us from the cold temperatures and in the summer to use air conditioners to protect us from high temperatures. “We appreciate it,” said Sen. Hinkins.
Huntsman said the power plants have spent millions on upgrades for pollution controls.
All three units at the plant burn approximately four million tons per year. The plant employees 220 people that work for PacifiCorp. Hundreds more auxiliary jobs like trucking, coal mining, rebuilds of equipment and others put those affected by what happens to those power plants at approximately 1,000 people in support industries as well as power plant workers.
“If the power plant went away, Emery County would be in big trouble,” said Huntsman, “At times we have 1,400 contractors here on overhauls.”
All the operations of the three units are controlled from the board rooms. The employees constantly monitor the boards for any changes and they control the amount of coal going in the the coal mills. The boards also show the amount of pollutants being discharged.
Huntsman showed the tour the training room used to train new board operators, they learn on the simulators and not on the actual unit which is online. This training process avoids costly mistakes. There are currently 20 board operators over the three units.
McGrath from the EPA said, “This is very impressive it’s helpful to see a power plant in person. You can read about it, but this tour, seeing it and having it explained is impressive.”
McGrath works out of the Denver office. “Your descriptions are helpful of what’s going on as we move forward.”
Those present stressed that when Salt Lake says we are polluting them, don’t believe it. We don’t have the inversions here that they do in the Salt Lake valley and we live with the power plants.
Rep. Brad King said, “We need to keep our jobs here. If these power plants close everyone from here will move to the city and add to their problems.”
Commissioner Brady said many of the city dwellers wish they could live in a rural area like ours. Our area has fiber optics which rival any in the urban communities.
Kelsey Berg, from Rep. Jason Chaffetz office thanked the EPA for coming to our area. She asked that in the future when the EPA has public meetings, to hold them in the areas affected most by EPA decisions.
McGrath said the EPA received comments from the 200 people that came to the meeting in Salt Lake and overall 1,000 comments were made. They are currently reviewing those comments. “We are working toward a final decision by June 1,” said McGrath.
The big reason the EPA offered two options was to solicit comments from the public on the regional haze plan. “We have received some very good comments and we will evaluate them. Some of the groups sent post cards,” said Mcgrath. He said there were a diversity of comments.
Sen. Hinkins wondered how the Salt Lake airport can expand without all the air quality studies required of others, they seem to be exempt. Planes put out a lot of emissions. A small company Stericycle had a small incinerator with minimal pollutants and they have been forced to relocate to Tooele County.
“Regional haze is not caused by us,” said Sen. Hinkins.
Jake Mellor, Carbon County commissioner said that’s one of the reasons Denver moved their airport so far away from the city was because of the pollution.
Sen. Hinkins said he spends six weeks in the city each winter at the legislature and he comes home on the weekends to get back to the fresh air of Emery County.
Commissioner Brady said, “Back on Jan. 26 the EPA held a hearing to hear public comment regarding regional haze in Salt Lake City. Many that I heard at the hearing asked why the hearing wasn’t held in one of the counties that the ruling was going to affect? Good question. I wondered that myself. So in an effort to show them our county I invited them and they accepted. Three from the EPA regional office in Denver came to our county. They participated in a tour of the Hunter Plant after which we took them to the Wedge. They were glad that we could accommodate them and we were pleased that they came. Overall, I think they were impressed with the reception and their visit to Emery County.”
The new proposed EPA regulations concerning regional haze, if they were to take effect, the three Hunter and two Huntington power generation units would be effected. If the Emery County units are forced to comply with additional regulations beyond what they have already complied with, it would come at a hardship to the consumer, PacifiCorp and to the community.
The Emery County Units have complied with the State EPA standards for regional haze. Regional haze standards are set to keep pollution levels at the five National Parks in Utah to a minimum.
Rocky Mountain Power has spent over $500 million to meet or exceed requirements to reduce particulate matter, SOx and NOx emissions. The cost to implement Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCRs) in the four BART eligible units is estimated at an additional $700 million. That cost is always passed onto the rate payer. The further reduction of the NOx with the SCRs would not make a visible difference.
Four of the units are best available retrofit technology (“BART”) eligible under the Regional Haze Rules. These units include:
• Hunter Unit 1 (BART-eligible; 2042 approved depreciable life; 1978 in-service)
• Hunter Unit 2 (BART-eligible; 2042 approved depreciable life; 1980 in-service)
• Hunter Unit 3 (not BART-eligible; 2042 approved depreciable life; 1983 in-service)
• Huntington Unit 1 (BART-eligible; 2036 approved depreciable life; 1977 in-service)
• Huntington Unit 2 (BART-eligible; 2036 approved depreciable life: 1974 in-service)
PacifiCorp retired two coal-fired generating units in 2015. These units are: Carbon Unit 1 and Unit 2 (retired in April 2015 because of MATS and state’s Regional Haze SIP)