DEQ seeks comment on closing Boardman

Enlarge Image

PGE's Boardman Power Plant

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Wednesday will open a month-long comment period on its proposals for closing Portland General Electric’s coal-fired power plant near Boardman, the state’s largest stationary source of air pollution.

The DEQ on June 28th presented three pollution control proposals for the plant:

• Close the plant in 2020 after $320 million in upgrades.
• Close the plant in 2018 after $100 million in upgrades.
• Close the plant sometime between 2015 and 2016 after $35 million in upgrades.

PGE at the time said it was "disappointed" in the options, which came just over a week after its $40 million proposal to close the plant by 2020 was rejected by the state Environmental Quality Commission.

On Friday, the Portland-based electric utility (NYSE: POR) submitted a new proposal of its own, essentially adopting the technology required in the DEQ’s 2018, $100 million option, but pushing back the closure to 2020.

PGE spokesman Steve Corson said the proposal also calls for testing the new technology required by DEQ — called "dry sorbent injection" — to see whether it can adequately control sulfur dioxide levels without creating excess particulate emissions, which could require up to another $100 million in equipment upgrades to address.

The DEQ is inviting comments on its three proposals, as well as the new PGE proposal, through Oct. 1. The agency will also hold five public hearings where people can find out more about the proposals and provide comments.