The U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency this week announced a settlement with Ohio Edison Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., that will mean a reduction of 212,000 tons per year in air pollution from power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The pollution controls and other measures required by the consent decree are expected to cost approximately $1.1 billion.

The Bruce Mansfield power plant in Beaver County is included in the settlement.

The case involved alleged violations of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the federal Clean Air Act at the W.H. Sammis Station, a coal-fired power plant in Stratton, Ohio.

The Consent Decree will reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from the Sammis Station by a total of 134,500 tons of SO2 and 28,567 tons of NOx per year. Pollution controls will be installed between 2005 and 2010.

The final plant-wide caps and emission reduction levels will be achieved in 2012.

Ohio Edison and FirstEnergy will provide over 49,000 tons per year of additional reductions in SO2 and NOx emissions from three other power plants: the Burger plant in Belmont County, Ohio; the Bruce Mansfield plant in Beaver County, Pa.; and the Eastlake plant in Eastlake, Ohio.

These additional reductions will be achieved by upgrading existing pollution controls or installing new pollution controls at these plants. These additional reductions will bring the total SO2 and emission reductions under the Consent Decree to over 212,000 tons per year by 2012.

This is the ninth settlement that the federal government has entered into to address Clean Air Act NSR violations by coal-fired power plants.

The combined effect of the settlements achieved to date will be to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants by over 940,000 tons each year through the installation and operation of about $5.5 billion worth of pollution controls. In terms of both the amount of the pollution reductions and cost, this settlement is the second largest of the power plant NSR settlements to date. The $8.5 million civil penalty imposed is the second largest penalty against a power plant.

The $25 million amount for mitigation projects, to compensate for the harmful effects of Ohio Edison's past violations, is the largest mitigation project commitment in any of the United States' NSR settlements with utilities to date.

Ohio Edison will fund $14.4 million in renewable energy development projects, specifically wind power projects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or western New York. The wind power generated will displace an equivalent amount of coal-fired power and thereby further reduce emissions from coal-fired plants. Ohio Edison may propose, alternatively, to fund new projects to generate electricity from landfill gas in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.

Ohio Edison also will provide a total of $10 million to the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to perform environmentally beneficial projects related to air pollution in those states. The specific projects will be determined by the states after the consent decree is entered. Allegheny County will receive $400,000 to install a solar power project at one of the County's municipal buildings.

Ohio Edison also will provide $215,000 to the National Park Service for an environmentally beneficial project related to air pollution in Shenandoah National Park, a Clean Air Act "Class I area" that has been adversely impacted by emissions from Sammis and other power plants.

The proposed Consent Decree will be lodged with the United States District Court in Columbus, Ohio, for a thirty-day public comment period.

NewsClips:

$1.1 billion accord settles Ohio utility penalty

Ohio Utility Agrees to Reduce Pollution

Ohio Utility to Pay $1.1 billion in pollution case

3/18/2005