EPA Landmark Clean Air Act Settlement with TVA to Modernize Coal-Fired
Power Plants and Promote Clean Energy Investments
State-of-the-art pollution controls and clean energy technology to
provide up to $27 billion in annual health benefits
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today
announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to
resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at 11 of its coal-fired plants
in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The
settlement will require TVA to invest a TVA estimated $3 to $5
billion on new and upgraded state-of-the-art pollution controls that
will prevent approximately 1,200
to 3,000 premature deaths, 2,000 heart attacks and 21,000 cases of
asthma attacks each year, resulting in up to $27 billion in annual
health benefits. TVA will
also invest $350 million on clean energy projects that will reduce
pollution, save energy and protect public health and the environment.
"This agreement will save lives
and prevent billions of dollars in health costs. Modernizing these
plants and encouraging clean energy innovation means better health
protections and greater economic opportunities for the people living
near TVA facilities,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
“Investments in pollution control equipment will keep hundreds of
thousands of tons of harmful
pollutants out of the air we breathe, and help create green job
opportunities that will reduce pollution and improve energy efficiency."
Once fully implemented, the
pollution controls and other required actions will address 92 percent of
TVA’s coal-fired power plant capacity, reducing emissions of nitrogen
oxide (NOx) by 69 percent and sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 67
percent from TVA’s 2008 emissions levels. The settlement will
also significantly reduce particulate matter and carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions. Uncontrolled releases of harmful air pollution like sulfur
dioxide from power plants can affect breathing and aggravate respiratory
and cardiovascular diseases, especially in sensitive populations like
children and the elderly.
Communities near TVA’s facilities will directly benefit from $350
million in environmental projects designed to reduce harmful air
pollution and promote energy efficiency. These investments will advance
environmental justice by reducing pollution in overburdened communities
and reducing energy costs for low-income communities. TVA is required to
spend $240 million on energy efficiency initiatives including a Smart
Energy Communities project that will focus on energy efficiency in
low-income communities. TVA
will retrofit low-income housing with the most cost-effective energy
efficiency technologies – reducing air pollution, energy use and saving
residents money. TVA
will also spend $40 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through
renewable projects such as hybrid electric charging stations and $8
million for a clean diesel and electric vehicle project for public
transportation systems.
TVA will also provide $1 million to the National Park Service and the
National Forest Service to improve, protect, or rehabilitate forest and
park lands that have been impacted by emissions from TVA’s plants,
including Mammoth Cave National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National
Park.
TVA is an independent, corporate agency of the United States created as
part of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, and is headquartered
in Knoxville, Tenn. TVA operates 59 coal-fired boilers at 11 plants in
Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee and operates other energy production
facilities, including hydroelectric plants.
TVA also provides wholesale power to 155 municipal and
cooperative power distributors and direct service to 56 large industrial
and government customers, supplying power to approximately nine million
people across Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and small
portions of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The settlement also requires TVA to pay a civil penalty of $10 million,
with Alabama and Kentucky receiving $500,000 each and Tennessee
receiving $1 million. The
states of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, and three
non-governmental organizations, the National Parks Conservation
Association, Sierra Club, and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, have been
involved in development of this settlement and are signatories to a
companion consent decree that will be lodged in federal district court
in the Eastern District of Tennessee.
This is the 22nd Clean Air Act New Source Review settlement
in the coal-fired power plants sector.
Reducing air pollution from the largest sources of emissions,
including coal-fired power plants, is one of EPA’s National Enforcement
Initiatives for 2011-2013. The initiative continues EPA’s focus on
improving compliance with the new source review provisions of the Clean
Air Act among industries that have the potential to cause significant
amounts of air pollution.
EPA is accepting public comments on this agreement for a 30-day period
from the date notice of the agreement is published in the Federal
Register.
More information on this settlement:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/caa/tvacoal-fired.html
More information on EPA's civil enforcement program:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/index.html
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