Real world pains in Nebraska

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Senate appears uninterested in

icized for foot-dragging, but they

don’t exceed 1.2 pounds times the

passing legislation this year. That

have succeeded in buying their

1985-1987 coal burn. The idea is

puts the action over into 1990 and

members 10 years of grace on

to prevent not just the rate of

the second session of the 1Olst

acid rain controls.

emissions but also total SO2 load-

Congress.

ings from increasing. In the case

The politics of delay could succeed again. But at this writing, it

of the Sheldon plant, the limit

tion year, in which all 435 House

looks as if George Bush has begun

means NPPD could never bring

members and a third of the Senate

to cut the Gordian Knot of clean

the plant up to more than 60% ca-

face the voters. As 1990 pro-

air with his tough new sword of

pacity. The plant is currently run-

gresses, members will increas-

emission caps.

ning at 50% capacity and burning

Of course, 1990 is a federal elec-

-Kennedy

ingly gauge their actions on the

even lower sulfur coals that emit

l? h4aize

at 0.8 lbs.

basis of how the issue is playing at home. All evidence to date indicates that voters value the environment highly and want Congress to take a tough approach to environmental issues. If the issue looks too divisive, members could decide to push the issue back until after the 1990 election. Both EEI and the National Coal Association have urged Congress to wait on acid rain legislation until release of the final report of the $500 million National Acid Precipitation Program (NAPAP), established in 1980 to study the issue. For more than a decade, the overriding strategy of both EEI and NCA has been delay With Congress being a fundamentally conservative institution inclined toward inaction where possible, the industry strategy has been successful. EEI and NCA may be crit-

According to NPPD officials,

Real World Pains in

even installation of a scrubber

Nebraska

would not permit the plant to increase its capacity enough to per-

If Congress decides to keep the

mit it to perform its intended role

emission caps in the Bush acid rain

as a load-following unit.

control plan, it will probably have

The problem at Gentleman

to provide some relief for special

plant is just the opposite. The

cases. Two examples of such cases

1300 MW two-unit baseload plant

may be found at Nebraska Public

was operating at high capacity

Power District.

during the 1985-87 base period,

One problem for NPPD is the

burning very low sulfur Powder

1985-1987 base period the Bush

River coal at a rate of 0.68 lbs.

plan uses for calculating caps; the

That made it one of the lowest

other is the plan’s prohibition on

SO2 emitters in the nation.

increases in emissions for plants

But NPPD has been unable to

that were below 1.2 lbs./mm Btu

get coal of that quality since.

in the base period. NPPD’s Shel-

Under the Bush plan, NPPD

don station is hit by the first provi-

would be limited to 0.68 lbs. after

sion; its Gerald Gentleman plant

the year 2000. That means NPPD

is faced with the second. Sheldon is a 225 MW two-unit

would have to build a scrubber

coal-fired plant that was emitting

cleaner plants in the nation, while

and baghouse at one of the

at the 1.3 lbs./mm Btu level in

other far dirtier plants would still

1985 through 1987, the key period

be able to avoid scrubbers. The NPPD situation will be one

for determining pollution rights. But at the same time, because of a

of many to be worked out as the

large power surplus in the region,

Bush clean air scheme inches its

the plant seldom operated, hav-

way through a Congress filled

ing an average capacity factor for

with members intent on just such

the period of only 12%.

local concerns.

The Bush bill penalizes in-

-Kennedy

creases in capacity, and forces emissions down so that they 8

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I? Maize