Plan calls for shuttering part of NM power plant

Months of wrangling over the best way to curb pollution from a coal-fired power plant that serves more than 2 million customers in the Southwest have given way to a proposal that could see New Mexico transition to cleaner sources of energy to meet its electricity demands. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's administration on Tuesday unveiled details of a proposed settlement involving pollution controls at the San Juan Generating Station in northwestern New Mexico. It calls for retiring two units at the plant by December 2017 and installing less costly equipment for cutting pollution on the plant's remaining units. At issue is an order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that calls for Public Service Company of New Mexico to equip the plant with certain technology to cut pollutants that cause regional haze and visibility issues in national parks and wilderness areas. The rule, issued in August 2011, gave PNM and the plant's other owners five years to come into compliance. The utility and the Martinez administration challenged the order in federal court. They favored a state plan for trimming haze that would have been less costly. The proposal unveiled Tuesday is a compromise meant to address pollution concerns while ensuring the costs of environmental upgrades are not unbearable for ratepayers, said Ryan Flynn, general counsel for the New Mexico Environment Department. He called it a "long-term vision." "We could invest in some really costly proposals and keep the state bound to coal for the next 45 to 50 years or we can take a step toward transitioning the state to other sources of energy like natural gas," Flynn told The Associated Press in a phone interview...more