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Residents to state regulators: No more dirty air
By ANTONE CLARKSALT LAKE -- Residents had a simple message for state regulators considering a permit to facilitate the building of a cogeneration plant in South Davis County: Enough is enough.
"My wife told me if this happens, we're through with Davis County," Woods Cross resident Mark Peterson said of a proposal to build a 1009 megawatt cogeneration plant at approximately 400 South and 1100 West in West Bountiful.
Peterson was not alone in his sentiment. An overflow crowd was vocal in its opposition to the project at a public hearing hosted by the state's Division of Air Quality on Tuesday night.
"I'm pretty disgusted that a plant like this would even be considered, when the pollution problem is so obvious," Jeff Lund, of West Bountiful, said.
There are already five refineries in the southern part of the county, which one official dubbed "refinery alley."
State officials will take public comment until Thursday, and then are expected to consider the public input -- especially the technical issues raised -- before ruling on a possible permit.
Consolidated Energy Utah, a Salt Lake-based company, issued a notice of intent in November of 2007 with the state to build a cogeneration plant near the Holly Refinery. The proposed plant would consist of one boiler fired with petroleum coke, and two natural gas-fired boilers and one large two-stroke engine, which would operate on residual fuel provided by Holly.
Residual fuel and petroleum coke are two byproducts of the refining process and are considered dirty sources of energy. The petroleum coke would be shipped from off-site and residual steam from the boiler would be sold back to the Holly Refinery, while all electricity generated by the facility would be provided to the general power grid.
State regulators are expected to grant an air quality permit, based on expected emission controls outlined in Consolidated's proposal. State officials claim the project would fall within state and federal guidelines for pollutants, as it is currently outlined.
The permit would move the project forward, but hardly means the project has the green light locally.
Donna Spankler, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality, said the DEQ's role in the process is to issue an air quality permit and the state does not supersede the role of local government in granting a building permit or other required steps. SCraig Howe, acting city administrator for West Bountiful, said there are a lot of hurdles for the project to clear before any construction could begin.
"There are all kinds of things that need to happen," Howe said.
Those steps include getting site plan approval for a project through the city's Planning Commission, and then getting final approval of any project from the city council. He said public input will be required every step of the way.
What's troubling to Howe and other local officials is that discussion of the cogeneration plant is going on without specifics of exactly where the plant would be located. Depending on the site proposal near Holly Refinery, property in the area could face zoning issues as well.
Mayor James Behunin has issued a statement on the city's Web site, which suggests the city will not approve any cogeneration project in the near future.
"Residents need to know that it is a top priority for the mayor and the council to protect the health, safety and welfare of the city's residents. We simply will not permit the construction of a facility that would threaten the health of our citizens," Behunin said.
Coke coal is generally associated with emissions containing some heavy metals.
In their outline to the state, Consolidated says metals classified as potentially hazardous would be limited to 0.92 tons of emissions per year and that no combination of hazardous air pollutants would exceed 9.59 tons per year.
An engineering consultant estimated new emissions generated by the plant would boost pollution in Davis County by less than one percent.
Rep. Roger Barrus, a sponsor of the Utah Clean Air Act of 2006, called the project "the wrong source of power generation, in the wrong place, at the right time."
Earlier this week the Davis County Board of Health went on record in opposition to the project.
The Woods Cross City Council also went on record last week in opposition to the plan, suggesting they didn't need more pollution downwind from any cogeneration plant.
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Its "Donna Spangler", not "Spankler"
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