FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 21, 2001
CONTACTS:
Louis Zeller (336) 982-2691
Bonnie Ward (910) 259-7041
CITIZENS CALL FOR POWER
PLANT POLLUTION REDUCTIONS
NEW FEDERAL RULE WOULD AFFECT
HAZE AND HUMAN HEALTH
Today in testimony before the US Environmental
Protection Agency in Arlington, Virginia,
representatives of the Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League told federal officials to close
the loophole for fossil-fueled electric power
plants. The four-state citizens group called on
the EPA to reduce air pollutants which reduce
visibility in our national parks and which cause
thousands of deaths every year.
Louis Zeller, Clean Air Campaign Coordinator
for BREDL, said, “The impact of the Best
Available Retrofit Technology rule would be huge.
The three Virginia plants which would be affected
by the BART rule produce 28% of the electric
power of all the coal-fired units in the
state.” He said that the BART rule would
require large reductions of sulfur dioxide at two
of the largest generators in Virginia,
Chesterfield units 5 and 6, and significant
reductions at two other plants: Possum and
Chesapeake, all operated by Dominion Resources.
The Chesterfield plant alone emits 36% of the
sulfur dioxide emitted from Virginia’s nine
coal fired power plants.
BREDL Vice President Bonnie Ward spoke at the
public hearing today in Arlington. She said,
“In my home state of North Carolina fourteen
coal-fired power plants emit 82% of all the
sulfur dioxide pollution, and 1800 people a year
die from pollution caused by power plants and
other major sources”
The EPA’s BART rule would cut air
pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, smog and
dangerous fine particle pollution from many of
the nation’s oldest coal-burning power
plants. These plants have benefit from a loophole
in the Clean Air Act which allows them to emit
tons of haze-causing air pollution.
In April 1999, EPA took the first step toward
restoring clean air in national parks and
wilderness areas by establishing a Regional Haze
Program. On January 12, 2001, then-president
Clinton signed the proposed guidelines. Though
they were put on hold shortly after President
Bush took office, the process has been moving
ahead since May.
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has
members in Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Tennessee, where 33 of 136
fossil-fuel electric power units began operation
from 1962 to 1977, the units for which BART
requirements would apply. BART would apply to 24%
of the existing power plants in the region: 8% of
the units in Tennessee, 15% in Virginia, 31% in
North Carolina, and 44% in South Carolina.
The EPA will accept written comments until
September 18th. To submit comments
(identified by the docket number A-2000-28)
contact Ms. Nancy Perry, Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards, Air Quality Strategies
and Standards Division, MD-15, Research Triangle
Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-5628, e-mail:
perry.nancy@epa.gov.
For further information contact BREDL at BREDL@skybest.com
or call 336-982-2691.
-end-
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