Examiner faults state review of power plant
Read the story in the Billings Gazette, 4/25/08
By SUSAN GALLAGHER
Associated Press Writer
HELENA - A state agency fell short in evaluating pollution-control technology for a small power plant, a hearing examiner said in findings hailed by a group that challenged Montana's regulation of the facility at Thompson Falls, northwest of Missoula.
Technology for controlling air pollution from the Thompson River Co-Gen plant, which is now idle, was not evaluated adequately by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said Katherine Orr, a Montana Department of Justice hearing examiner. She has proposed the state Board of Environmental Review direct DEQ to take back part of the plant's state air-quality permit and analyze the best available technology for pollution control at the 10-megawatt plant.
Although the plant has been idle for several years, talk of restarting it adds timeliness to Orr's findings, said Alexandra Gorman Scranton, science director at Women's Voices for the Earth, one of the groups that challenged DEQ's work. Chuck Homer of DEQ's Air Resources Management Bureau also said that resumed operation apparently is being considered.
The plant's operating and air-quality permits have been transferred to Thompson River Power, a business registered with the state last year by Minnesota-based Wayzata Investment Partners. A call seeking information about plans for the plant drew a "no comment" Thursday from a woman at Wayzata who refused to give her name, and identified her position as that of "a temp." She said she had been instructed to decline comment and could not refer the call to anyone else. Documents filed with the state Business Services Division list Wayzata as a manager of Thompson River Power.
Thompson River Co-Gen, which had a deal to sell power to NorthWestern Energy, operated the Thompson Falls plant for less than a year before it closed in 2005.
In response to a request from Gov. Brian Schweitzer in February, the state attorney general is investigating whether former co-owner Barry Bates deceived regulators in 2007 to avoid paying upward of $1 million in fines for violations of the Montana Clean Air Act.
Controversy swirled around the plant during its brief operation, with environmental groups and some Thompson Falls residents angry about use of coal to fuel the facility. They said Thompson River Co-Gen officials had told them the plant would be fired chiefly by wood waste from a lumber mill nearby. DEQ has said that in its original application, Thompson River described the plant as a coal-and-wood operation.
Besides finding fault with DEQ's analysis of pollution-control technology in setting emission limits for the plant, Orr found the agency deficient in setting limits on the type of coal the plant could burn at certain times. Special considerations at the Thompson Falls plant included its use of a relatively old boiler posing environmental concerns different from those of a newer boiler.
Homer said DEQ officials have decided not to seek exceptions to Orr's recommended order when it is before the Board of Environmental Review, but the agency may ask for some clarification. A document released by Orr lists a hearing date of May 30.
Published on Thursday, April 24, 2008.