By ADAM TESTA - Lee News Service Writer | Posted: Monday, July 12, 2010 6:51 am
CARBONDALE — A proposed tightening of federal Environmental Protection Agency emissions restrictions on coal-fired power plants has a Southern Illinois industry leader concerned about fair play in enforcing policies.
The Obama administration announced plans last week to crack down on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions at coal-fired plants.
W. Scott Ramsey, president of Southern Illinois Power Cooperative, said each state would be responsible for determining the extent of their regulations. In Illinois, where emissions of both gases already have regulations, some plants continue to operate without control systems.
“It gives us a little heartburn when you see some plants across the state operating without those controls,” he said. “It raises the question of is it fair play.”
The cooperative’s generating plant at Lake of Egypt and the Prairie State Energy Campus being developed in Washington County, which is partially owned by the cooperative, use modern equipment, Ramsey said. But he fears that restrictions may test the limits of current technologies.
Ramsey said he doubts the cooperative will launch any more coal-fired efforts during his lifetime, with a focus now on natural gas and renewable energy generation. For operators who would have to choose between spending millions of dollars to refit a plant or choose a new path, the restrictions may force their hands.
John Mead, director of the Coal Research Center at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, said there could be a hidden benefit in tightened restrictions. If older plants had to upgrade scrubber systems, Illinois coal, with its higher sulfur levels, could become a more viable energy source.
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