Heavy-Polluting Power Plant Transforms into Model For Cleaner Operation

June 25, 2014- Homer City Generating Station in western Pennsylvania was the first to sue the Obama administration three years ago (and lose) over a rule to force it to reduce its sulfur dioxide pollution, arguing it would spike electricity prices and cause ‘immediate and devastating' consequences. Now the massive coal-fired plant is turning from one of the worst polluters to a model for how such a facility can clean up its act. Homer City is expected to make the transformation in a few years, ending 40 years of pollution.

Older coal-fired plants are in a precarious situation these days, squeezed between cheap, plentiful natural gas and environmental rules the Obama administration has targeted at coal, which supplies about 40 percent of the nation's electricity.

The latest regulation, the first proposal to curb carbon dioxide from power plants, poses yet another challenge to existing coal-fired power plants. The EPA rolled out a new plan in early June to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, requiring them to reduce emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Obama has already imposed carbon limits on future power plants, but this is the first time such limits will be applied to existing power plants -- the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S.

Dozens of coal-fueled units have said they would close in the face of new rules. But environmental groups say Homer City is setting a benchmark for pollution control that other coal plants should follow, even if it takes decades.

The owners of Homer City have committed to installing $750 million worth of pollution control equipment by 2016 that will make deeper cuts in sulfur than the rule it once opposed -- without needing to increase electricity bills for the 2 million households it serves. Of the 1,687 people who live in Homer City, many are relieved that the plant's 255 jobs are staying put, for now.

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