Under the EPA's decision, the Portland Generating Station must install the latest technology to capture pollution before sending it from its smokestacks into the air
The Portland Generating Station must install the latest technology to capture pollution before sending it from its smokestacks into the air, the U.S. Environmental Protection ruled.TRENTON — A Pennsylvania coal power plant long blamed for belching toxic pollution into Warren, Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon counties must clean up its act within three years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday, handing a major victory to New Jersey officials.
The state has battled the Portland Generating Station, situated across the Delaware River from Warren County, for at least a decade to try to choke off the sulfur dioxide that spews from its smokestacks and endangers the health of residents in the northwestern part of the state.
“The EPA made clear that harmful emissions from a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant will not be tolerated,” Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement. “This is a major step toward our continuing commitment to improving air quality for all residents of New Jersey.”
Under the environmental agency’s decision, the plant must install equipment to reduce its sulfur dioxide emissions by 81 percent. The pollutant aggravates asthma and contributes to other respiratory problems, and also forms soot that collects on cars, homes and businesses.
Ken Varhola, a spokesman for GenOn Energy, which owns the Portland plant, said in a statement that the company was reviewing the decision.
The plant is among the 44 percent of coal-fired generating stations in the nation that don’t have advanced technology to control pollution, the environmental agency said. In 2009, the Portland plant emitted more than twice the total amount of sulfur dioxide from all of New Jersey’s plants combined, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“As someone who lived and worked in New Jersey, I know that communities have struggled for years with pollution crossing state lines, fouling the air they breathe and threatening their health,” the head of the environmental agency, Lisa Jackson, said in a statement.
Jackson, the former chief of the state DEP, sued the plant in 2007 and admonished the EPA for not taking action during the Bush administration.
Republicans and Democrats alike in New Jersey — including Christie — have long battled plants like the one in Portland, whose pollution blows into the state. About one-third of air pollution in New Jersey, which does not meet federal standards for healthy air, comes from other states.
But in a national court battle over a new rule issued by EPA intended to alleviate the problem, New Jersey is still on the sidelines, and environmentalists, power companies and industry groups are waiting to see what Christie will do as the Nov. 6 filing deadline approaches.
“This is a clear message to Gov. Christie that you can’t play it both ways,” said Jeff Tittel, head of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “You can’t tell people you care about out-of-state pollution and not sign on to the lawsuit to defend the EPA.”
Under the rule, 27 states, including New Jersey, must install better pollution control equipment. The EPA says this is the only way those states can meet the federal Clean Air Act, though opponents say it could increase electricity prices and cause layoffs.
New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland — all led by Democratic or independent governors — recently joined the suit to defend the EPA against challenges from cities, states and power companies in the South and the Midwest, where coal plants reign.
Environmentalists in New Jersey are concerned that Christie, whose influence among Republicans is growing, will not defend the federal agency in court to avoid angering those in the party who have criticized it.
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