Mirant Potomac River Plant (VA)
Mirant tries to trade its way to cleaner air
Robert Llewelynn
Mirant's Potomac River facility has notoriously violated air regulations for years.
Mirant’s Potomac River Generating Station is an old, coal-burning power plant operating in Alexandria, within 300 yards from many residential neighborhoods. A known contributor to ozone pollution, the plant has notoriously violated federal and state air regulations for years, forcing nearby residents to breathe unhealthy air.
All of Northern Virginia is in is “nonattainment” of the federal ozone standard. In fact, last year the ozone standard in the region violated public health limits 51 times – more than three-quarters of the total violations statewide.
That's why the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality passed regulations that will not allow Mirant or other power companies located in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone to meet caps on pollution by the trading of emissions credits with other facilities. Instead, these sources would have to reduce the amount of pollution they emit until air quality improved. These DEQ regulations, passed as a part of the federal Clean Air Interstate Rule, were set to go into effect on April 18, 2007, but were suspended in response to a petition filed by the Mirant Corporation.
In an effort to force old, dirty plants like the Potomac River facility to clean up or shut down, SELC is pushing the state to go forward with its regulations to require these plants to install the necessary pollution controls to comply with federal limits instead of trading credits with sources elsewhere. We are working with , working with the American Lung Association of Virginia and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters in this effort.
