After warnings that a decision on a permit to allow the Mirant power plant to merge its smokestacks was imminent — paving the way for the plant to produce more air-polluting smoke — staff in Richmond will let the State Air Pollution Control Board make the determination.
It’s a small win for Alexandria in its ongoing dispute with the power plant’s owners. City officials have been trying to close the plant, which they deem a public health hazard. Their efforts have so far failed, in part because the plant provides backup power to the District and Maryland and has been regarded necessary.
When the board last met in May, it imposed new, stricter restrictions on the plant’s emissions. Mirant has since sued the board over those restrictions. A trial is scheduled in October.
When city and Mirant staff appeared before the board in May, Mirant had worked out regulations with Department of Environmental Quality staff that it wanted the board to accept. That agreement included allowing Mirant to channel the output of the five smokestacks into only two stacks. The board denied those regulations and instead imposed restrictions more palatable to Alexandria.
Mirant officials argued that pushing all the emissions up fewer stacks would force the air in the stacks to move faster and better disperse the pollutants. City officials were concerned the stack merge would enable a future request from Mirant to increase the plant’s production.
In June, the state Department of Environmental Quality staff announced they would soon decide whether Mirant needed a permit to merge the stacks. Now, the director has decided to let the board make the decision “because of the complexity of the situation and concerns that were raised,” spokesman Bill Hayden said.
The board is considered to be more open to public input. The five-member citizen board opened earlier deliberations on the plant to the public, and requested public comment. It has also previously denied regulations Mirant wanted, said John Britton, a lawyer representing Alexandria.
The board is expected to consider the case in the fall. Mirant did not respond to a request for comment on the decision.
