money TVA seeks to reduce restrictions on discharges into Clinch River from Kingston plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority is seeking to lower regulations on the amount of pollutants and wastewater it discharges into the Clinch River from its Kingston coal-fired power plant by asking state regulators to apply the Trump administration’s less-stringent environmental regulations.
Electricity-generating plants like Kingston are required to have a national pollution discharge elimination systems permit, also known as NPDES. The permits regulate sources of pollution to bodies of water around the country.
The guidelines are set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency but are distributed by state agencies such as the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The current guidelines were set in 2020, and rolled back standards set in 2015.
TVA is asking TDEC to modify its current permit at the Kingston Fossil Plant to follow the 2020 federal regulations.
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Residents are invited to ask questions and give comments at a TDEC hearing at 5 p.m. Monday at the Kingston Community Center. There will be an informal Q&A until 5:30 p.m. and the hearing will go until 7 p.m. TDEC also will accept written comments through Nov. 30 that can be emailed to Vojin Janjić at vojin.janjic@tn.gov, according to the hearing notice.
The EPA conducted a “science based review” this year of the 2020 rule and said it found “opportunities for improvement” and will issue a proposed rule in fall 2022 for public comment.
In the event the EPA rules change again, the Southern Environmental Law Center, which fights for “clean air, clean water and livable climate,” requested TDEC include a “reopener” clause in any permits it drafts under the 2020 final rule. A reopener clause says that if more stringent standards are adopted, the plant’s permit would be modified or revoked and then reissued to meet the new standards.
“Really, these technology-based standards, they are designed to stop pollution at the source where it is easier to control rather than trying to clean it up after it’s already causing harm in our rivers and streams,” said Amanda Garcia, director of the Tennessee office for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
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What’s changed?
The EPA’s 2015 guidelines were the first since 1982 to place limits on wastewater streams from steam electric power plants. According to the EPA, the 1982 rules did not account for plants that treat dissolved pollutants. The 2015 rule established guidelines for plants to update their technology and create filtration systems that would limit the following wastewater sources created by coal-fired plants:
Flue gas desulfurization (a process to remove pollutants from air emissions)
Fly ash (a dry particulate created by burning coal to produce electricity)
Bottom ash (a coarse, incombustible byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity)
Flue gas mercury control (a process to remove pollutants from air emissions)
Gasification of fuels such as coal and petroleum
Power plants have until 2023 to update their technology to be in compliance with the 2015 limits, according to the 2015 final rule fact sheet. The dates are authorized by TDEC for TVA.
The 2020 rules, however, changed the guidelines for two of the waste streams: the flue gas desulfurization and the bottom ash.
According to EPA’s 2020 rule, flue gas desulfurization is produced through scrubbers that extract sulfur dioxide from flue gas to prevent emissions of sulfur dioxide. These systems can either be wet or dry. The wet systems are the ones that discharge wastewater.
Bottom ash is the heavier ash particles that fall to the bottom of the furnace. According to the EPA, in most furnaces the bottom ash is “doused” in a hopper filled with water. This ash is often then transported to an impoundment system. Once the bottom ash has settled to the bottom of the impoundment, the overflow from the transport water is usually then discharged as wastewater.
Under the 2015 rule, plants would aim to limit certain trace elements that are in the flue gas desulfurization waste stream, including arsenic, mercury, nitrogen and selenium. Plants would also aim to discharge zero pollutants from the bottom ash transport water.
Though the 2020 rule included some of the same types of limits in its general rules, it created looser regulations for some plants based on categories like size and power output.
These subcategories include high flow units, low utility units and boilers that plan to cease coal combustion by 2028. TVA is in the process of evaluating plans to cease coal combustion at the Kingston coal-fired plant.
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“While TVA has submitted a Notice of Planned Participation (NOPP) to participate in the retirement subcategory, we have options under the rule and our draft permit to transfer to a different compliance pathway if necessary,” TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks told Knox News in an emailed statement. “No decision has been made regarding the future of the Kingston Fossil Plant.”
Anila Yoganathan is a Knox News investigative reporter. Email her at anila.yoganathan@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TVA to reduce restriction on Kingston plant discharges in Clinch river
