Small Town News

NRG Energys plan unites friends, foes

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NRG Energy's proposal to clean up its Indian River power plant has won the support of environmentalists and clean air activists, die very people who usually lead the charge to oppose practices at the facility.

NRG's plan to invest $500 million to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, mercury and particulate matter united plant workers and longtime plant foes who are all calling for Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O'Mara to approve the proposed technology as a means to meet a 2007 consent order requiring reduced emissions at the pant.

The order requires NRG Energy to reduce emissions at die plant by December 2011, bringing the plant in line with Delaware's strict air-pollution standards.

Plant officials say the state-of-the-art technology NRG plans to install will meet state goals and will also allow the plant to meet federal clean air standards for years to come.

Plant officials will also pay to install an air-monitoring system near the plant, devices activists have for years demanded.

Besides cleaning up the environment, the project will also provide as many as 500 jobs through 2011, a much-needed boost to skilled construction workers and others idled by the economic slowdown. It's a clear win for the air, for the economy and for residents of the Cape Region.

This major investment in the Indian River plant could mark a turning point for the plant, one that will transform it from one of the worst coal-burning plants in the nation to one of the cleanest.

We hope the cleanup does not stop there. When units 1 and 2 are shut down in 2011, the cooling system of unit 3 will continue to draw in and slaughter millions of fish in an area that serves as a fish nursery.

NRG energy would demonstrate its commitment to the environment by replacing the old cooling system with cooling towers, widely considered the best available cooling technology





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