Dive Brief:
- Xcel Energy has reached a settlement with environmental groups to reduce pollution from its coal-fired plant in Becker, Minnesota, potentially ending a lawsuit over haze in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota and Isle Royale National Park in Michigan.
- According to Xcel, recent upgrades to the plan's older units and planned additions to a more modern generator will decrease sulfur dioxide emissions by 50% by 2017.
- The Star Tribune reports the settlement will still need to be approved by a federal judge, but would end a lawsuit brought under the U.S. Clean Air Act's provisions to protect park land views.
Dive Insight:
A settlement to reduce pollution from a Minnesota coal facility will still need approval from a judge, but could end a 2012 challenge regarding haze in two national parks some allege is generated by Xcel Energy.
“There are going to be visibility improvements,” Kevin Reuther, legal director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, told the Star Tribune.
Xcel has invested $50 million into scrubbers and will modify a newer unit at the plant, which should cut emissions by half in the next two years. “This leverages off an investment we have made at the Sherco facility that has recently been proven to achieve significant SO2 reductions,” Jack Ihle, director of environmental policy for Xcel, told the newspaper. “So we are using that performance to reach an agreement with the parties to reduce the emissions overall.”
The
Sherco generating station is located 45 miles northwest of the Twin Cities, along the Mississippi River. Its three units generate a combined 2,222 MW of power, and the older two units have been in operation since the mid-70s. A third unit was brought onliune in 1987.
According to the Sierra Club, while
Xcel "has made great strides in clean energy," Sherco remained "the single, largest source of greenhouse gases, mercury and soot pollution in the state."