San Juan Power Plant Charged with More Clean Air Act Violations

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April 29, 2004

Farmington, NM - Charging that the San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, New Mexico is not operated in a manner "consistent with good air pollution control practices for minimizing emissions," the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club today filed a 60-day notice of their intent to sue Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) for additional violations of the Clean Air Act. The groups filed their first suit against PNM for Clean Air Act violations at San Juan in May 2002.

"Since we filed our original case in 2002, PNM has continued to exceed its pollution limits at the San Juan power plant. This notice letter will allow us to pursue PNM's violations between May 2002 and the present to protect not only the people living in the region but the skies above them," stated Rick Moore, Associate Director of the Grand Canyon Trust.

The group's first case against PNM may only cover violations that occurred up to the time their complaint was filed in May of 2002, according to a recent ruling by the Court.

The notice alleges that PNM has continued to violate the opacity limit in San Juan's permit after the filing of the 2002 complaint. The notice also charges that PNM knowingly purchases and burns coal in the plant's boilers with an ash content exceeding the design specifications of the facility and the capacity of its pollution control equipment to handle --evidenced by excessive emissions recorded by the plant's own smokestack monitor data. The notice also alleges that PNM has been operating the power plant as a "load following" facility even though it was not designed to be operated in that manner. Changes in load also cause the power plant to emit excessive amounts of pollution.

"We have recently learned in our current litigation that PNM has not operated the plant in a manner to minimize air pollution. The decision to burn high ash content coal combined with frequent increases and decreases in load causes excessive amounts of unhealthy pollutants to be discharged and is simply unacceptable, Moore said. The more pollution this plant emits the more likely it contributes to respiratory problems, acid rain, impaired visibility in national parks and global warming," he added.

San Juan is a four unit, 1,800 megawatt coal-fired electricity generating power plant operated by PNM and co-owned by Tucson Electric Power and parent UniSource Energy Corporation, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association,

Southern California Public Power Authority, M-S-R Public Power Agency, the City of Farmington, New Mexico, Los Alamos County, New Mexico, the City of Anaheim, California, and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.

The notice encourages an exchange of information between the parties and offers to discuss a settlement prior to litigation being initiated.

To view the notice of intent, click here.

For more information contact:

• Rick Moore, Associate Director
  Grand Canyon Trust
  (928) 774-7488
  -
• Reed Zars
  Attorney
  (307) 745-7979

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