Description: Challenge to Title V permit for coal-fired power plant in Utah.
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In re Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, Bonanza Power Plant
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/22/2015 Federal Register Notice Download Notice of proposed settlement published. EPA published notice of the proposed settlement in the Federal Register on October 22, 2015, which opened a 30-day period for public comment. 10/05/2015 Settlement Agreement Download Settlement reached. EPA, Environmental Groups, and Utah Power Plant Operator Agreed to Settlement of Air Permit Appeal. EPA Region 8, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, and Deseret Generation & Transmission Cooperative (Deseret) reached an agreement to settle two appeals of a Title V permit issued for the coal-fired Bonanza Power Plant in Uintah County, Utah. The settlement agreement provided that Deseret would apply for a Minor New Source Review (NSR) permit with specified terms restricting emissions of nitrogen oxides and limiting coal consumption for the remainder of the plant’s coal-fired unit’s operating life to 20 million short tons unless specified pollution control requirements are met. The settlement agreement provided that neither EPA nor the two environmental groups would oppose credit taken by the facility for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the reduced coal consumption or from relying on the carbon dioxide reductions to demonstrate compliance with any applicable carbon dioxide standards. In addition to dismissal of the Title V permit appeals, WildEarth Guardians agreed that it would withdraw its lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Colorado challenging approvals authorizing development of a coal lease for a mine that that was the sole source of fuel for the Deseret power plant (WildEarth Guardians v. United States Bureau of Land Management, No. 1:14-cv-01452 (D. Colo.)). The agreement does not, however, prevent WildEarth Guardians or Sierra Club from opposing any application by Deseret to acquire additional sources of fuel. Deseret agreed that it would withdraw an application to construct a waste coal-fired unit at the plant. A pending Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit application and a proposed PSD permit would also be withdrawn.