PGE puts pollution gear at $300 million
Portland General Electric proposed Monday to spend about $300 million installing pollution controls at its coal-fired power plant near Boardman, which contributes to muddy skies around Mount Hood and in the Columbia River Gorge.
An analysis paid for by PGE and submitted to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Monday projects the improvements – including scrubbers — will reduce the plant’s emissions of haze-causing pollution by 75 percent. They should also reduce the types of pollution that create acid rain and fog in the Columbia Gorge.
The proposal comes as new federal clean air rules, arising from concern about haze at the Grand Canyon, force PGE to find ways of controlling the plant’s emissions.
The company will simultaneously install equipment to capture more than 90 percent of the plant’s emissions of toxic mercury, as required by an earlier DEQ mandate.