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Thursday, July 02, 2009
PNM Touts Upgrades at San Juan Emissions Emissions
By James Monteleone
The Daily Times
WATERFLOW — Operators of the San Juan Generating Station opened the power plant for community leaders this week to highlight newly completed environmental-protection equipment renovations.
PNM and other plant co-owners have invested $330 million at the 1,800-megawatt coal-fired power plant, 15 miles west of Farmington, to dramatically reduce emissions.
The upgrade was agreed upon as a settlement to a 2002 lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust following reports of air quality violations at San Juan, which generates almost 60 percent of PNM's electricity in New Mexico. PNM and other owners also paid nearly $7 million in fines.
The renovations are anticipated to reduce plant emission of sulfur dioxide and particulate ash by an additional 50 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 30 percent and retain more than 90 percent of mercury, said Jim McNicol, San Juan Generating Station plant manager.
Farmington Mayor Bill Standley commended the upgrades and the power plant's daily operations, noting an American Lung Association study ranking Farmington's air quality among the nation's 10 best. “Some say the power plants are causing the pollution,” Standley said. “They just haven't been exposed to the operation that you have here (even) before you did the upgrades.”
The Sierra Club praised the project completion, but said improvements only were made because of the lawsuit. Spokesman Rob Smith noted some improvements, such as mercury protections, went beyond what PNM was required to through the court action.
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