EPA Requiring $85M in Upgrades to Industrial Plants to Cut Haze in Montana - Forest Service Wanted More - See Impact On NM & Az

Federal regulators have approved a new measure meant to help turn Montana's Big Sky Country into Clear Sky Country by forcing industrial plants to cut pollutants that make hazy skies over national parks and wilderness areas. The Environmental Protection Agency rule has been criticized by industry as too costly and by conservationists and other federal agencies as not tough enough. The goal is to restore visibility to natural conditions in national parks and wilderness areas from Idaho to North Dakota. The official target date is 2064, but EPA officials acknowledge it would take several centuries for some parks and wildernesses under the new rule. To get there, the agency detailed $85 million in upgrades needed within five years at the Colstrip coal power plant in southeastern Montana, the Ash Grove cement plant near Montana City and the Holcim cement plant near Three Forks. Including operating expenses over the next 20 years, the total costs to the three plants would top $270 million, EPA officials said Thursday. An alternative proposal that was favored by conservation groups but rejected by the EPA would have cost Colstrip an additional more than $120 million. The National Park Service said EPA regulators overestimated the potential costs of more advanced pollution controls that could have further cut emissions. The U.S. Forest Service said the rules jeopardized Montana's chances of meeting the 2064 goal. But the EPA said more expensive pollution control upgrades were not justified...more

This demonstrates another cost of Wilderness - higher electricity bills.

For how this affects NM and Arizona see EPA sets final rules for curbing haze-causing pollutants from Navajo power plant. It will shutter three units and cost $290 million.

Also see EPA versus Arizona on regional haze issue and EPA war on coal threatens Tucson water supply.