Thompson River Co-Generation Facility
With WVE support, local citizens' groups are organizing to protect their community from air pollution.
With organizing and technical support from WVE, Community Awareness Network (CAN), a local citizens’ group, has been working to protect their valley from mercury pollution from a proposed coal-fired power plant in Thompson Falls, MT.
The Thompson River
Co-Generation (TRC) Plant is located in a valley prone to winter weather
inversions. Modeling done by Thompson River Cogen indicates that the
impact on the community could be severe, taking the valley from a place with
historically clean air and clear skies to one that barely meets federal air
quality standards. Although already constructed, this facility is not currently operating due to ongoing violations of its air quality permit. WVE and CAN have raised important permitting issues concerning water supply and discharge which remain unresolved.
Alexandra Gorman, WVE’s Director of Science and Research, has been providing necessary technical assistance to CAN on TRC permitting issues. The most recent version on the air quality permit is under review at the DEQ.
We are making progress. As a result, Thompson River Cogen was recently fined $112,000 by Montana’s DEQ for changing aspects of the facility design that are not compatible with what was originally permitted. The DEQ has also proposed further fines of up to $1.8 million for recorded violations of their air quality permit.
Natural Living Conference