Opponents of Montana coal plant seek carbon dioxide controls

By MATTHEW BROWN

HELENA, Mont. - Opponents of a proposed coal-fired power plant in Montana asked a state panel Friday to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from the project to curb global warming.

If the opponents prevail, Montana could become the first state in the country to force new coal plants to employ technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to attorneys in the case. Plant supporters say those technologies are still in development and not ready for commercial use.

Southern Montana Electric wants to build a 250-megawatt plant in Great Falls known as the Highwood Generating Station. It would serve customers across much of central and southern Montana.

Environmentalists and some local landowners have made numerous attempts to stop the plant, but have so far been unsuccessful. The latest attempt centers on the plant's greenhouse gas emissions and whether they are subject to state air quality regulations.

Carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal, is a prime contributor to global warming. Highwood would emit the equivalent of 2.8 million tons of the gas annually, according to a federal analysis of the project.

On Friday, opponents challenged Highwood's permit in front of the Montana Environmental Review Board, which has the power to create new regulations and overturn state-issued permits. The seven-member, governor-appointed board made no decision Friday and will discuss the case again on Jan. 11. Board Chairman Joe Russell said some members need more information on the issue.

An air quality permit for Highwood was issued in May, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case involving automobiles that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and can be regulated.

Citing that case and a 1990 congressional mandate that utilities track carbon dioxide emissions, the Montana Environmental Information Center wants the state to reconsider Highwood's permit. The group wants Highwood's backers to consider technologies that hold more promise for capturing greenhouse gases before they enter the atmosphere.

However, Highwood attorney Kenneth Reich said the state could not retroactively impose restrictions on the project's permit.

Reich said that while future regulations on the gas are likely, "you don't impose a standard after-the-fact on a licensee."

An attorney for the Montana Environmental Information Center said such regulations did exist, through Congress's 1990 amendment to the federal Clean Air Act. Essentially, the group's argument maintains that regulations on carbon dioxide are in place but have not been enforced.

"You don't have a to create a new policy to make a major difference in global warming," Abigail Dillen, a lawyer with the legal group Earthjustice, told the review board. "Is carbon dioxide subject to regulation? That's the question you need to ask yourself, and the answer is yes."

A second subject in the environmentalists' challenge was whether the state had adequately analyzed the plant's potential emissions of so-called particulate matter. Those are small particles that can cause health problems if they are inhaled. Earlier this month, two southwestern Montana counties were found to have excessive levels of the particulates.

As with carbon dioxide emissions, Dillen said the state's consideration of Highwood should have required a look at technologies that might better screen out the particulates.

A lawyer for the state Department of Environmental Quality, David Rusoff, said potential particulate levels had been measured using the best available methods and found to be acceptable.

A separate legal challenge to Highwood is pending in federal court. The federal Rural Utility Service has plans to issue a loan to the project potentially worth more than $700 million. But the loan has been held up pending an Earthjustice lawsuit that argued the agency should have considered carbon dioxide emissions in its environmental evaluation.

Southern Montana Electric general manager Tim Gregori said Friday the company has started to explore private financing if the loan falls through. Federal financing "will not be the pivotal issue on the project moving forward," he said.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)