By Mac McLennan
GRAND FORKS -- Environmental issues have garnered a lot of discussion in recent months.
The latest debate in this region affects Minnkota Power Cooperative, the wholesale supplier to member-owners, other electric distribution cooperatives and Northern Municipal Power Agency members.
It's a dispute between North Dakota and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the best way to improve visibility. The debate is not about health.
On Sept. 21, the EPA announced its intention to take over North Dakota's Regional Haze program to improve visibility in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, among other areas.
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Members of the public have a chance to comment on the proposal through Nov. 21. The EPA must consider all comments submitted before taking final action.
Minnkota has worked with others in this region to develop a website, www.stopEPA.com . At the website, people can follow a "Take Action" link to submit formal comments.
North Dakota's state plan to address nitrogen oxide emissions, the EPA says, isn't good enough for Minnkota's Milton R. Young Station, Basin Electric Cooperative's Leland Olds and Antelope Valley stations and Great River Energy's Coal Creek Station.
But Minnkota recently installed Over-Fire Air Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction technology that is proven to work on cyclone-fired boilers fueled with high-sodium North Dakota lignite coal.
This technology is anticipated to reduce 55 percent to 60 percent of NOx emissions and cost Minnkota $40 million to install.
Now, the EPA wants to force Minnkota to add an additional technology called Selective Catalytic Reduction that the agency believes will reduce more than 90 percent of the NOx emissions. But SCR, which has not been demonstrated to work on North Dakota lignite coal, could cost Minnkota an additional $500 million to install.
Statewide, it could cost power plants more than $700 million for various technologies required to meet EPA standards.
If the EPA successfully forces Minnkota to install SCR technology, Minnkota could see a 30 percent to 35 percent cost increase. This could translate into a 20 percent to 30 percent retail rate increase by member cooperatives and Northern Municipal Power Agency cities.
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We at Minnkota believe the EPA should not take over North Dakota's plan to improve visibility with this Federal Implementation Plan -- and we need Herald readers' help to get the word to the EPA.
North Dakota's plan achieves significant emission reductions and improved visibility while taking into account feasibility and cost-effectiveness.
And modeling done by the state shows that even if all the power plants in North Dakota were shut down completely, the state still couldn't meet visibility goals because of significant emissions coming from other states and Canada.
Remember, the current debate issue is not about health. The state already is easily meeting required National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which protect health.
In fact, the American Lung Association in 2010 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 home to Minnkota's Young Station.
Consumers in our region enjoy some of the cleanest air in the country and are paying for about $425 million in environmental upgrades installed in the past 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?
North Dakota doesn't think so, and Minnkota agrees. The overreaching EPA goes too far in trying to take away North Dakota's authority to implement federal Clean Air Act rules in the state.
So, visit www.stopEPAnd.com , and tell the EPA that the plan is not right for the consumers in this region.
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McLennan is president and CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative.
