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That’s how much EPA’s Regional HAZE plan for North Dakota would cost Minnkota Power. How would the EPA plan affect you? Your Electric Rates would increase by 20 percent or more.
Note: EPA is no longer accepting comments. You can still sign up to receive updates on this issue at StopEPAND.com. Interesting information on coal and the power plants that supply your power - Partners for Affordable Energy
Regional Haze and Thief River Falls Electric Utility Rates Minnkota Power Co-op discussing regional haze Let your voice be heard on regional haze on the Scott Hennen radio program.
In recent months, there has been a significant level of discussion in the United States and this region regarding environmental issues. Minnkota Power Cooperative, the operating agent for the Northern Municipal Power Agency, including Thief River Falls Public Utilities,
and other regional cooperatives are a significant
part of that debate. The latest debate has surrounded an issue called Regional Haze and a dispute between the state of North Dakota and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On Sept. 1, the EPA indicated it is proposing to take over the state of North Dakota's Regional Haze plan to improve visibility in areas including North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge’s wilderness area.
The EPA will communicate its proposal in a Federal Register notice. As members of the public, we have a 60-day opportunity to comment on the EPA’s plan. Minnkota has worked with others in this region to develop a website, www.stopEPAnd.com, where you can take a minute to let your voice be heard. (Note this 60-day period has expired)
North Dakota’s state plan, the EPA says, isn’t good enough to address nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions at Minnkota’s Milton R. Young Station, Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Leland Olds and Antelope Valley stations and Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station. If the EPA is successful in its attempt to take over the state’s plan dealing with NOx emissions, all NMPA municipals, of which Thief River Falls is a member, would see a rate increase of 20 to 30 percent to pay for technology that would be required to comply with the federal plan.
We believe the EPA should not take over the state of North Dakota’s plan to improve visibility. North Dakota's plan achieves a significant amount of reduction in emissions and improved visibility while taking into account feasibility and cost-effectiveness. Minnkota complied with the state plan by installing, at a cost of $40 million, Over-Fire Air (OFA)+Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology that is proven to work on in cyclone-fired boilers fueled with high-sodium North Dakota lignite coal. It will reduce 55 to 60 percent of the NOx emissions.
The EPA plan wants Minnkota to add an additional technology called Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) that the agency believes will reduce 90 percent of the NOx emissions. SCR, which will not work on cyclone-fired boilers fueled with high-sodium North Dakota lignite coal, could cost Minnkota an additional $500 million to install. Even if Minnkota could demonstrate that SCR technology works on its plants, the emissions-reduction difference is not discernable to the human eye. A deciview can be used to measure visibility. EPA says most humans can only see one deciview distinction, but SCRs only improve 0.553 deciviews over OFA+SNCR.
Modeling done by the state of North Dakota indicates that shutting down all of the power plants in North Dakota would not allow the state to meet EPA’s visibility goals because of significant emission inflows from other states and Canada. And remember, in 2010 the American Lung Association identified eight North Dakota counties, including
Mercer and Oliver counties (home to several coal-based power plants), as having
“A” grades for clean air. Oliver County is the home of Minnkota’s Young Station. Consumers in our region enjoy some of the cleanest air in the country and are currently paying for more than $425 million in environmental upgrades installed in the last few years. Does it really make sense to require huge additional investments for visibility improvement that, even if it did work, would be imperceptible to the human eye? The state of North Dakota doesn't think so, and we agree. The overreaching EPA goes too far in attempting to take away North Dakota’s authority to implement federal Clean Air Act rules in the state.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP STOP EPA FROM SEVERELY IMPACTING YOUR RATES The EPA contact period has ended, however, you can still contact your Congressional delegation and ask them to keep fighting for the North Dakota state plan for regional haze in areas such as North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge’s wilderness area. It will have a direct impact on you as Minnesota customers and ratepayers of NMPA.
In Minnesota, you can contact:
Rep. Collin Peterson Sen. Amy Klobuchar 2211 Rayburn HOB 302 Senate Hart Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20510 202-225-2165 202-224-3244 Detroit Lakes: 218-847-5056 Moorhead: 218-287-2219 Red Lake Falls: 218-253-4356 Fax: 202-228-2186 Fax: 202-225-1593 http://klobuchar.senate.gov http://collinpeterson.house.gov
Sen. Al Franken
309 Senate Hart Office Building NW Phone: 218-230-9487 Fax: 202-224-0044
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