Cinergy and its two principal operating companies, Cincinnati Gas & Electric and PSI Energy, recently reached a tentative agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding Clean Air Act claims and challenges of past maintenance and repair activities brought against the company’s coal-fired power plants. Under the terms of the agreement, EPA and the other plaintiffs have agreed to drop all claims and allow Cinergy to continue operations without subjecting the plants to new federal permitting requirements. In return, Cinergy has committed to shut down or repower with natural gas nine small coal-fired boilers at three power plants in Indiana and Ohio beginning in 2004. The company will also build four additional sulfur dioxide scrubbers starting in 2008 at a cost of about $580 million, upgrade existing pollution control systems at a cost of approximately $90 million, and phase in the operation of NOx reduction technology year-round starting in 2004.
The agreement also calls for the company to retire 50,000 tons of sulfur dioxide allowances by 2005 and reduce the company’s SO2 cap by 35 percent in 2013. In addition, Cinergy must invest $21.5 million in environmentally beneficial projects over the next five years and pay a civil penalty of $8.5 million to the United States government.
In reaching the agreement, Cinergy did not admit any wrongdoing and remains free to continue its current maintenance projects, as well as implement future projects.
Based on a report from ElectricNet.com
