The cloud is lifting over the Four Corners Power Plant. Late last Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new air pollution requirements for the aging plant – the nation’s biggest single source of haze-causing nitrogen oxides. The upgrades promise to greatly enhance air quality throughout the region.

The EPA is requiring plant operators to install the most stringent pollution control technology available. When complete, the upgrades will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from 45,000 tons per year to 9,000 tons per year.

“The Four Corners Power Plant is the largest source of nitrogen oxides in the nation,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator. “Adding new pollution controls at this 45-year-old plant will reduce these emissions by 80 percent. We will all be

able to see the results and breathe cleaner, healthier air.”

The decision was driven in part by a federal mandate to improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. There are 16 national parks and wilderness areas in the vicinity of the Four Corners Power Plant, including Mesa Verde and the Weminuche Wilderness. The new controls should improve visibility by an average of 57 percemt at these areas. In addition, nitrogen oxides react with other chemicals to form hazardous ozone and small particles, which pose an especially high risk to children, the elderly and people who work or exercise outside.

“Reducing the pollution from this antiquated coal-burning plant can only benefit our entire region and the Navajo Nation, which has suffered the impacts from air pollution for too long,” said Lori Goodman, of

the Navajo group Diné CARE. “This is a common-sense approach to cleaner air, protecting public health and restoring the region’s economic vitality.”

The EPA rule will require the plant’s owners –Arizona Public Service and California Edison – to install selective catalytic reduction on all five units at the 2,040-megawatt plant. These controls must be installed within five years.

Arizona Public Service has already suggested that requirements are too onerous and will make the Four Corners Power Plant uneconomical. The utility estimated that upgrades at the plant will lead to a 3 to 4 percent rate hike for its customers. The EPA counters that the utility may be stretching it a bit, estimating the average cost to a household at 70 cents a week, or $36.40 per year.

– Will Sands