[Archived] City of Alexandria Disagrees with Mirant’s Decision to Restart Power Plant

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	September 22, 2005 PIO# 293-05/rdo	Steven J. Mason, Public Information Officer, or Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

City of Alexandria Disagrees with Mirant’s Decision
To Restart Power Plant
City Files Amended Complaint Against Mirant Corporation

The City of Alexandria has filed an amended Complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in the enforcement action pending against the Mirant Corporation in Alexandria Federal District Court as a result of
Mirant’s recent decision to restart its Potomac River Generating Plant. The amended Complaint seeks to prevent Mirant from operating its plant in violation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

The City of Alexandria has reviewed Mirant’s plan to restart and operate one of the five boiler units at its Potomac River Generating Station plant under a limited operating plan. Mirant unilaterally acted to restart this plant on Wednesday, after less than 24 hours notice to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), and ignored that agency’s request to establish a compliance configuration for the plant’s operation that conforms to scientifically recognized procedures. Mirant has made no improvements to the plant, and its actions drew a strong letter yesterday from Virginia Governor Mark Warner.

“The City remains very concerned that Mirant is acting in a very unilateral manner and with little regard for the health impacts associated with their decision to restart the Potomac River plant,” said Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille.

Maureen Barrett of AERO Engineering Associates, the City’s air quality expert, found that Mirant’s one-boiler modeling scenario, which is the basis for Mirant’s decision to reopen the power plant, relies on unproven emission rates and unconfirmed modeling inputs.

The City believes that “Mirant’s one-boiler scenario relies on unproven emission rates, unconfirmed modeling impacts and inaccurate operating assumptions. Mirant ignores the effects on particulate matter emissions of the daily ramp-up and ramp-down of the boiler unit necessitated by its limited hours of operation. Mirant has failed to supply the test data necessary to support its PM10 emission values that are the basis of its analysis of this limited operation. Mirant also omits any analysis of the impact of the operation of Boiler Unit #1 on the adjacent public recreational lands. Finally, Mirant has failed to show how it will satisfy the SO2 standards. Consequently, Mirant’s operation of the PRGS, even at its limited level, fails to achieve compliance with NAAQS.”

The very significant health impairment caused by the smallest particulate matter known as PM2.5 emissions is well documented and recognized. Alexandria is within the regional nonattainment area for this pollutant, meaning that any additional impacts over the already unacceptable levels should be evaluated and considered very carefully. Yet Mirant’s analyses fail to even evaluate or consider PM 2.5, while the City’s own analysis, determined according to soon-to-be final US EPA guidelines, shows the plant’s impacts alone produce levels of PM2.5 that are many times the short-term and annual standards for this dangerous pollutant.

In considering the City’s responsibilities for the health of its residents, tourists, and consumers and due to the deficiencies in the air quality studies Mirant has used to justify restarting the Potomac River Generating Station, the City believes Mirant has failed to demonstrate that even this limited operation of the plant will comply with NAAQS.

In addition, there is a Mirant Community Monitoring Group meeting at 8 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at City Hall, 301 King St. in the City Council work room, second floor, to discuss these issues.

For more information, call William Skrabak of the City’s Division of Environmental Quality at 703.519.3400, extension 163.

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