2010.10.06 Press Release
Portland General Electric Violating Federal Clean Air Standards
Portland General Electric Violating Federal Clean Air Standards
US Environmental Protection Agency Says PGE Must Clean Up Dirty Boardman
Coal-fired Power Plant
Portland, OR - Portland General Electric (PGE) has received a Notice of Violation from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) stating that PGE’s pollution levels at the Boardman coal-fired power plant are
illegal under the federal Clean Air Act. This notice arrives on the heels of months of public comment to
state level agencies in which overwhelming public support was expressed for transition off-coal at
Boardman at the earliest possible time in a way that also maintains strong air quality standards.
“Essentially the federal agency in charge of protecting the environment just told PGE that they are not
complying with laws that are there to protect people from dangerous air pollution” said Cesia Kearns,
Regional Representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Oregon. “We are pleased that EPA
agrees with what we have been saying for a long time- Boardman is a dirty and dangerous plant.”
The Clean Air Act was created in 1970 to protect people and the environment from the damage that air
pollution does to human health. Certain pollutants from coal-fired power, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides, cause haze and acid rain, and contribute to four out of the five leading causes of death in the U.S.
“This notice of violation is yet another chapter in a three-decade saga of PGE’s attempts to avoid taking
responsibility for Boardman’s pollution,” added Kearns.
PGE has been operating Boardman without modern pollution controls for more than thirty years. In 1998
and 2004 PGE invested in changes to the Boardman plant that increased pollution, but failed to install
adequate equipment to reduce pollution, as required by law. According to the EPA notice, PGE has been
violating a Clean Air Act standard that has required PGE to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution by 90% since
those changes were made.
“PGE’s unwillingness to be reasonable and their history of skirting the law is finally catching up with them”
said Mark Riskedahl, Executive Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center. “In the end, this
is about fairness.”
“PGE has an opportunity to take responsibility for their mistakes of the past and to exercise leadership for
the future by transitioning Boardman before more pollution – and greater cost – falls upon Oregonians,”
added Brett VandenHeuvel, Executive Director of Columbia Riverkeeper.
NEWS RELEASE
Upcoming decisions at the state level by the Public Utility Commission and the Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) could also determine the future of the Boardman plant. Last week, the DEQ
closed a public comment period on various options for PGE to meet state pollution standards while
transitioning the plant early. In the record of comments, the US Forest Service and US National Park
Service expressed concern around PGE’s proposed plan to transition the Boardman plant in 2020 without
installing the necessary pollution controls, noting that the plain fails to adequately address the high levels of
haze causing pollution that impact 14 protected parks and wilderness areas, and the Columbia River Gorge.
This notice makes EPA the third government agency to weigh in recently on the unacceptable levels of
pollution at the Boardman plant.
“EPA's action removes all doubt that allowing PGE to operate Boardman without significant pollution
reductions for an additional decade, as PGE proposed in its “2020 plan,” is illegal, threatens people's health,
and is simply irresponsible,” said Michael Lang of Friends of the Columbia Gorge.
PGE will need to meet with EPA officials to determine how they will bring the plant into compliance with the
Clean Air Act. PGE and EPA could agree to resolve PGE’s violations through a reasonable plan to
transition Boardman off coal as quickly as possible – sooner than PGE’s proposed date of 2020. The
alternative for PGE is to install hundreds of millions of dollars of pollution controls. PGE may also face
millions of dollars in penalties for their violations.
Conservation and public health advocates maintain that the best choice for avoiding future regulatory costs
and protecting the health, environment, and pocketbooks of Oregonians is to transition Boardman to clean
energy sources as soon as possible.