Air Pollution in Western Pennsylvania (& Regionally) Needs Attention ASAP
Fine particulates plus sulfur & nitrogen oxides are just some of the pollutants including toxic VOC, mercury, carbon monoxide, etc.
Tenaska Pennsylvania Partners recently submitted a minor modification plan approval for its 940 MW gas-fired power plant in South Huntington Township, Westmoreland County. The proposed modifications are to Tenaska’s current Plan Approval permit which will allow it to make changes to how it operates without submitting a new operating permit.
This Tenaska plant was recently cited as one of the top 12 polluting facilities in Pennsylvania, emitting over 2.6 million tons of direct greenhouse emissions in 2020. Tenaska’s proposed modifications would increase the startup time for the plant from 1 to 1.5 hours. Typically, power plants emit more pollution during their startup and shutdown processes. The application also asks for periods of regular maintenance, otherwise known as tuning, to be excluded from its definition of “normal operation,” which would exempt it from hourly emission limits. However, tuning is a regular and required activity not usually excluded by federal permitting and should be accounted for in this application.
The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should require Tenaska to address these issues before making its decision about the modification for this permit.
Comments are due Monday, June 19th.
>>> Sincerely, Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel, Clean Air Council
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SEE ALSO: Air quality alert issued for Pittsburgh region, Pittsburgh Bright Gram, June 18, 2023
The PA Department of Environmental Protection has issued a code orange air quality alert for the greater Pittsburgh area on Monday. The alert is in effect until 4 p.m. for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
The code orange alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, the elderly, and people suffering from asthma, heart disease or other lung diseases.
The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding outdoor exercise or strenuous activity.
While smoke from Canadian wildfires has impacted the area recently, this alert is due to local pollution and an inversion that is keeping air closer to the surface, meteorologist David Shallenberger said. “There’s a little bit of smoke in the area but it’s not the main cause for it,” he said.
Information on current air quality conditions is available online at: airnow.gov.
After a cool start to June, temperatures are beginning to rise ahead of the official start of summer on Wednesday.