Virginia Electric Power has agreed to spend $1.2 billion between now and 2013 to eliminate 237 000t of SO2 and NOx emissions each year from eight coal-fired power plants in Virginia and West Virginia.
The settlement is the latest in a series of cases that the Bush administration pursued to bring coal-fired power plants into full compliance with the New Source Review requirements of the Clean Air Act. This settlement resolves charges that the company violated the laws by making major modifications to its power plants without installing equipment to control pollution.
Administrator Todd Whitman said: "As a result of this agreement, our citizens will be able to breathe easier, our forests and waterways will face less stress as acid rain is diminished, and we will be able to see further and more clearly in our National Parks as soot and other particulate matter is removed from the air." In addition to providing for major pollution reductions, Virginia Electric Power agreed to pay a $5.3 million civil penalty and spend at least $13.9 million for projects in each of the five states that participated in the case. Specifically, Virginia Electric Power agreed to a number of projects – retrofitting or otherwise reducing emissions from diesel engines, including those on school buses, installing photovoltaic cells on municipal buildings, purchasing conservation easements to preserve environmentally sensitive areas, and providing alternative-fuelled vehicles in the Shenandoah National Park.
Virginia Electric Power is required to install new pollution control equipment and upgrade existing controls on several units, resulting in substantial pollution reductions. The settlement covers eight Virginia Electric plants, six in Virginia and two in West Virginia, comprising 20 generating units which between them emitted over 350 000 ton of SO2 and NOx in 2000. The settlement aims to reduce these emissions by approximately 67 per cent, to 116 000 ton by 2013.
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