Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) officials announced Monday that they had reached a preliminary agreement with NRG Energy Inc., owners and operators of the Indian River Generating Station in Millsboro, designed to lower annual emissions of toxins at the notoriously polluting power plant.
The terms of the agreement call for lowering annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at the coal-fired plant by an estimated 4,300 tons, nitrogen oxides (NOx) by an estimated 2,900 tons and mercury by an estimated 1,200 ounces, by January 2012. The resulting emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are as much as 25 percent lower than what DNREC’s multi-pollutant regulation requires for NRG’s two largest units at the plant.
The agreement also includes the retirement of the two oldest coal-fired boiler units at the plant, one in May of 2010 and the second in May of 2011 — a step that DNREC said is expected to permanently reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury emissions.
DNREC officials noted that the agreement resolves the NRG’s appeal of the Multi-Pollutant Regulation, as well as potential enforcement action. In announcing the agreement, state officials also canceled a meeting on the appeal that had been scheduled for later this month.
Beginning in 2008, the changes called for in the agreement would reduce sulfur dioxide, which is a major contributor to the formation of fine particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides, a major contributor to formation of both ozone and fine particulate matter.
“This is an important step forward for Delaware and for NRG. This agreement allows us to do what’s needed to achieve shared environmental goals,” said John Ragan, president of NRG’s Northeast Region. “Through this agreement, Delaware will benefit from greater emissions reductions in the long term than would otherwise have been the case under the Multi-Pollutant Regulation.”
DNREC issued Multi-Pollutant Regulation No. 1146 in 2006, in an effort to reduce air emissions from Delaware power plants. That regulation included two deadlines for emission reductions: May 1, 2009, and Jan. 1, 2012, for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions; and Jan. 1, 2009, and Jan. 1, 2013, for mercury.
“While NRG shared DNREC’s environmental objectives from the start,” Ragan explained, “the company filed an appeal due to an inability to meet the 2009 Phase I timeline required for SO2 and NOx emissions.”
DNREC officials said NRG is now expected to meet the mercury emissions requirement early, for both regulatory phases, and to exceed the requirements for emissions reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by the 2012 deadline.
“Achieving greater levels of reductions in major emissions at the plant than are required under our regulation is a vital component of this agreement,” said DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes. “The health and environmental benefits of phased-in and long-term emissions reductions at this plant outweigh the uncertainties of a protracted court case, and I’m gratified that we have reached this agreement with NRG.”
DNREC and NRG officials said they plan to formalize the preliminary agreement with a consent order to be filed with the Delaware Superior Court.
NRG purchased the four-unit, 780-megawatt Indian River power plant from Conectiv in 2001.