CRAIG, Colo.—Craig’s highest taxpayer and Colorado’s second-largest power plant is under fire from a state environmental organization.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s Craig Station is listed as the No. 1 carbon polluting power plant in Colorado and 55th out of nearly 6,000 electricity-generating facilities in the country, according to a report called “America’s Dirtiest Power Plants” released by Environment Colorado.
Power plant and Moffat County elected officials think the Craig Station is being singled out unfairly in light of proposed regulations coming down the pike.
“They’re trying to draw attention to the (Barack Obama) administration’s costly Climate Action Plan,” said Lee Boughey, senior manager for communications at Craig Station.
The advocacy group’s report ranks power plants nationwide by levels of carbon emissions. Because the organization cites carbon dioxide emissions as the driving cause of global warming, the report calls on government officials to make drastic changes in energy policies.
“Power plants, both for Colorado and the nation, are the single largest factor in pollution,” said Margaret McCall, energy associate for Environment Colorado. “As a whole, Colorado’s power sector is by and large the largest polluter” in the state.
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a proposal to limit the amount of carbon new power plants can release into the atmosphere. It won’t affect Tri-State immediately, Boughey said.
“Tri-State is a partner in the proposed expansion of a coal-fueled power plant in Kansas,” Boughey wrote in an email. “We are pleased that the EPA recognized the cooperatives’ significant investment in the project and that it was appropriate to not include it in the new rule.”
The EPA proposal’s success could determine what regulations come out next year when the agency presents regulations for existing power plants, like Tri-State’s Craig Station. The EPA is expected to put that proposal out in June 2014.
It doesn’t make sense for coal power plants now, Boughey said.
“The challenge is that the technology to capture emissions from power plants is still under development,” he said.
McCall said it is time to start cutting back on carbon emissions and the power resources that produce it.
“We don’t regulate carbon,” she said. “We need to be shifting all of our energy away from coal.”
But Moffat County Commissioner John Kinkaid said the government needs to take a break from regulation. For a community like Craig, he said, coal is crucial to the economy and the business should have space to grow instead of dealing with more restrictions.
“What comes out of our stacks in Craig is by and large water vapor. If our plants were dirty in Craig, we’d be the first to see,” he said. “What (Environment Colorado) is asking isn’t practical at this time, and it’s going to make life harder for average people.”
He expressed concern that Environment Colorado’s report could be used in legislation that would be directed negatively at Moffat County’s energy industry.
“It’s easy to reference this in committee testimonies and justify more over regulation,” he said.
Environment Colorado is pushing for solar power, plug-in vehicles, increased public transit and a national standard requiring that 25 percent of electricity comes from renewable resources by 2025.
Environmentalists in general, Kinkaid said, are missing the bigger picture. Solar and wind need to be backed up, he added. That means renewable energy still depends on a solid infrastructure of energy like coal or natural gas, he said.
“We take our electricity for granted. People don’t realize how fragile the grid is,” he said. “We’re losing some of our redundancy and getting closer to the edge, and one of these days, we’re going to have brown-outs.”
For an economy like Craig’s, cuts to the coal industry would be devastating, Kinkaid said.
“The environmental extremists have gone a bridge too far. It’s starting to affect real people with real jobs, and there are real consequences,” he said. “One of the things they talk about is, ‘Will there be jobs in the new economy?’ Not like these jobs. Not ones that pay well.”
McCall said that is a narrow approach to a larger problem.
“We’re always talking about real people, but real people are also feeling the impacts of extreme weather and global warming,” she said. “We can’t afford to be short-sighted about this.”
This is a complex issue that shouldn’t be rushed, Boughey said.
“We’re concerned that the administration is trying to address the complex issues of carbon emission through the Clean Air Act,” he said. “If carbon regulations are considered, it should be through Congress.”
Boughey also made clear that Craig Station was not against using renewable energy but that it was important for companies to have the ability to do so when it made market sense.
“We’re always compliant with state and federal laws, and we seek to get a balance in our portfolio,” he said. “Every resource has a value, including renewable energy, but we oppose mandates that determine what resources we use.”
As far as the EPA’s proposal, Kinkaid is unimpressed.
“It looks like they’re still intent on putting coal power plants out of business,” he said. “It’s an unfair proposal. And they know that.”
———
Information from: Craig Daily Press,
