U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and nine U.S. House members from Pennsylvania's delegation sent a bipartisan letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to consider the impact that the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) will have on Pennsylvania's 15 circulating fluidized bed coal refuse power plants and the more than 1,000 people they directly or indirectly employ.
Coal refuse power plants are a private-sector solution to an ongoing environmental problem, converting piles of low BTU coal unfortunately discarded decades ago into power for Pennsylvanians. Since 1987, these plants have removed more than 150 million tons of coal refuse from Pennsylvania hillsides and reclaimed 5,000 acres of abandoned mine lands that would have otherwise contributed to acid mine discharges into our waters and pollution into our air.
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EPA acknowledged the environmental benefits of CFB coal refuse plants in its Utility MACT rulemaking. Given this acknowledgment, it is perplexing that the EPA made no special exceptions for CFB coal refuse plants in a related CSAPR rulemaking. Instead the agency set thresholds for emissions that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says are not economically feasible for these plants to meet. In the letter, the members of Congress ask the EPA to consider whether these plants should be required to meet the new threshold.
"This is an incredibly important issue for Pennsylvania, as only a few of these plants are scattered outside of the commonwealth. We are very concerned that EPA did not adequately consider the unique operation of these facilities and the significant contributions they make to Pennsylvania's environment and economy," the legislators write. |
