Two coal-fired power plants in northern Colorado are the top polluters contributing to haze problems at Rocky Mountain National Park, a new state analysis shows.
The plants operated by Xcel Energy Inc. and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. emitted haze-forming pollutants that obscured park visibility more than half the time during a three-year period, according to the study.
The preliminary analysis, by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, is part of an effort to quantify how haze from major industrial sources is obscuring visibility at the state’s national parks and wilderness areas.
The study also shows the haze from Xcel’s Hayden plant and Tri-States Craig facility cloud many days at the nearby Mt. Zirkel and Rawah wilderness areas.
“The computer model we used is pretty conservative and is capable of making some pretty straightforward conclusions,” said Mike Silverstein, planning manager for the the department’s air-pollution control division.
In recent years, visibility at Rocky Mountain National Park has declined to an average view in the park of about 30-90 miles, down from a historic average of 140 miles.
Industries found degrading air quality in parks may be asked to retrofit their plants with pollution-control technologies.
“I think it’s fair to ask these facilities to use the kind of pollution control technologies that other power plants around the country adopted long ago,” said Jana Milford, a Boulder-based scientist with Environmental Defense. “There’s just no excuse anymore.”
The plants emit pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and fine particles.
Jim Van Someren, a Tri-State spokesman, said the company has already invested $20 million in making upgrades at its 1,264-megawatt Hayden plant, causing emission levels to plummet.
“We only received this report late last week and it’s still being reviewed,” Van Someren said. “But given the investment we’ve made at the Craig plant, we feel very confident that we’re not causing a problem.”
A spokeswoman for Xcel said the company has been working with state environmental regulators to address regional haze problems.
“We are very proud of our environmental track record and feel like we meet or exceed what other power plants are doing around the country,” said Margarita Alarcon, an Xcel spokeswoman.
The state’s analysis shows that seven additional power plants and two cement plants are creating haze above a federally set threshold.
The plants are: Xcel’s Pawnee, Cherokee, Valmont and Comanche plants; Colorado Springs Utilities’ Drake and Nixon plants; Trigen Colorado Energy Corp.’s Golden facility; Holcim Inc.’s Portland Cement plant; and Cemex Inc.’s Lyons plant.
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
