Launching Suit to Clean Up Coal

OPB's Kristian Foden-Vencil interviews PEAC staff attorney Aubrey Baldwin before the start of the press conference. Inflatable power plant and PGE's downtown skyscraper loom in the background

Jan. 15, 2008 -- At a joint press conference held on the Willamette River, with a 20-foot tall inflatable power plant in the shadows of the glass-and-steel Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) building, PEAC announced its intent to file suit on behalf of the Sierra Club, NEDC, Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Hells Canyon Preservation Council against PGE for violations of the Clean Air Act at its Boardman coal-fired power plant in Eastern Oregon. The Clean Air Act requires that citizens provide a 60-day notice for violators before filing a complaint in federal district court.

PGE Boardman is a 615 megawatt old-fashioned pulverized coal power plant. Constructed without modern pollution controls, the plant is the largest stationary source of air and global warming pollution in Oregon- emitting harmful levels of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulate matter (soot). The pollution released by PGE Boardman causes a variety of health problems, including respiratory ailments, developmental problems and premature deaths, and degrades our environment through acid deposition, impairing visibility, poisoning our waters and contributing to global climate change. PGE Boardman also pollutes more than ten protected parks and natural areas, including the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, Hells Canyon and the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Unfortunately, PGE has been unwilling to make the investments necessary to modernize the Boardman facility with the best available pollution controls to protect our health and environment. As described in detail in PEAC’s 60-day notice letter, PGE Boardman has been violating the Clean Air Act for decades. PGE plans to operate the plant for many decades to come, and has no current plans to come into compliance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act or federal and state regulations. The Clean Air Act requires PGE to reduce its sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides pollution by more than 90%. The groups intend to ask a court to require installation of equipment necessary to achieve these reductions, and to impose civil penalties for PGE's ongoing violations of the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act subjects violators to penalties up to $32,500 per day per violation. The coalition represented by PEAC plans to pursue these claims to protect human health and the environment for generations to come.

Read the 60-day notice.

Read the press release.