Not Another Power Plant in CT ... or ... WV ...!

>> From an Article by Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette Mail, October 22, 2921

Feedback was divided between welcoming potential economic benefits and decrying feared environmental perils at a public comment meeting on a proposed air quality permit for a natural gas-fired power plant in Monongalia County.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection held the meeting virtually Tuesday evening on the permit requested by Longview Power’s Mountain State Clean Energy LLC for the facility planned to be located immediately north of the Longview coal-fired plant in Maidsville.

The project is slated to be a gas-fired, combined-cycle plant that will supply electricity to the power grid, linking to it via an interconnection used by the coal-fired plant. The West Virginia Division of Air Quality’s preliminary evaluation found that the project as proposed will meet all applicable state rules and federal regulations, prompting the division’s preliminary determination to approve the air quality application.

Area union officials pushed state environmental regulators to keep leaning in that direction. They argue that constructing the plant would create critical jobs for their members. “[T]he job opportunities [are] huge. I would like to add that the jobs created will be good-paying jobs, with important retirement and health care benefits,” said Natalie Stone, representative of the Morgantown-based North Central West Virginia Building Trades Council.

The proposed gas-fired plant is projected to emit 5.13 million tons of greenhouse gases, 321 tons of nitrogen oxide, 276 tons of carbon monoxide and 210 tons of particulate matter per year, according to a permit application prepared for the DEP by Ambient Air Quality Services Inc., a Pennsylvania-based air quality consulting firm.

Opponents of the project objected to what they said were troubling discrepancies and inadequate air quality protection measures in the proposed permit as well as the project’s proposed greenhouse climate emissions that would contribute to the climate crisis.

The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization consisting of 30 member countries, said in May that investors should not fund any new coal, oil or natural gas projects if the world is to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

Earth must meet the mid-century deadline to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avert the worst effects of climate change, the agency reiterated in a road map for the global energy sector that included the new recommendation to end all new fossil fuel projects.

James Kotcon, chairman of the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club’s conservation committee, observed that a draft permit for the facility lists the facility’s total electrical generating capacity as 1,300 megawatts, while a DEP preliminary determination and fact sheet for the facility notes that the facility’s electricity generation capability is 1,200 megawatts.

DEP spokesman Terry Fletcher indicated after the meeting that the figure was an approximate value, adding that the output will vary based on power efficiencies and operating conditions. A PowerPoint presentation that Division of Air Quality engineer Edward Andrews showed describing the project indicated that the plant would be a 1,200-megawatt facility.

Area resident Duane Nichols argued that it would be environmentally unjust for the plant to be located near West Virginia University medical facilities, health centers and other sites of importance. Two facilities Nichols mentioned, the WVU Eye Institute and Mountaineer Field, are roughly 10 miles away from the proposed facility location. “You can’t find a worse location in the entire state of West Virginia,” Nichols contended.

Those anticipated emission levels are all well above federal significance levels, subjecting the plant to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Prevention of Significant Deterioration regulations. That designation requires installation of emissions-limitation technology, air quality analysis, an additional impacts analysis assessing the effects of air, ground and water pollution, as well as public comment on permits and citizen enforcement actions against sources not complying with their permits.

Project opponents questioned the “clean energy” part of Mountain State Clean Energy’s name during the meeting. “When I see a company that calls themselves Mountain State Clean Energy and then ask for 5 million tons of greenhouse gas [emissions], who do they think they’re fooling?” Kotcon asked.

Mountain State Clean Energy will need to apply for a water pollution permit for the site or modify an existing one to include the new gas-fired turbine, Fletcher said.
Located 3,000 feet west of the Monongahela River, the site is slated to operate two pipeline-gas compressor units. The application indicates that no greenhouse gas emissions will be associated with starting up, shutting down or operating the units. The proposed start-up date for the facility is Jan. 1, 2025, according to the DEP.

Mountain State Clean Energy LLC formally changed its name from Longview Power II LLC in November of 2020. That name change came seven months after the West Virginia Public Service Commission issued a certificate to the company to construct and operate the gas-fired facility and a 70-megawatt utility-scale solar facility — 20 megawatts to be located in West Virginia and 50 megawatts in Pennsylvania. The commission also approved construction and installation of a 500-kilovolt electric transmission line extending approximately three quarters of a mile north from the gas-fired facility.

Longview Power II LLC and Longview Renewable Power LLC, a separate company granted the solar siting certificate that subsequently changed its name to Mountain State Renewables LLC, estimated that the cost to construct the gas-fired facility would be $1.1 billion, according to the Public Service Commission. The Monongalia County Commission approved a 30-year, $58 million payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the Longview parties in December 2020.

The Division of Air Quality will take public comments until Mon., Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. and subsequently take final action on the application. Written comments may be emailed to Edward.S.Andrews@wv.gov, with “Mountain State Clean Energy Comments” in the subject line, or mailed to Edward Andrews, WV Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street, SE, Charleston, WV 25304.

Additional information on the project proposal can be found at https://dep.wv.gov/daq/permitting/Pages/NSR-Permit-Applications.aspx

CMU Speck PM2.5 monitor on table

CMU creates device, app to monitor home air pollution

From an Article by David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 10, 2016

When her son was diagnosed with leukemia six years ago, Patrice Tomcik said she wanted to protect the 3-year-old from environmental exposures she believed may have contributed to the cancer.

But few options were available to monitor air pollution levels, let alone control them. The Butler County woman was particularly concerned about the proximity of natural gas fracking operations and a compressor station to her home in Adams.

“Early on, what could we do to protect ourselves?” said Ms. Tomcik, 45, married and the mother of two sons. The only real option was AirNow.org, which provides regional pollution levels online every half hour.

In response to the concern, Carnegie Mellon University developed Speck, a fine particulate pollution monitor that provides fairly accurate readings of fine particle levels (known as PM2.5 levels) and shows rising or falling pollution levels.

Illah Nourbakhsh, a university professor of robotics, led the CMU Robotic Institute’s CREATE Lab in developing the affordable air quality monitor in 2014. He faced a similar situation in his own home with his children having coughing spells at night that could be halted only by using an air purifier.

Speck is available for $200 through the Pittsburgh spinoff company, Airviz Inc., at www.specksensor.com/. Various local organizations are distributing monitors regionwide and beyond as a new tool to keep close track of air quality so people can react more quickly to reduce health risks from polluted air inside their homes.

More recently, the team developed the newly available smartphone app, SpeckSensor, which provides up-to-date Air Quality Index readouts from the closest air-pollution monitor, based on ZIP code. The app can be programmed to provide air-quality readings from multiple ZIP codes nationwide for those wishing to track pollution levels for friends or family.

An Android version of the SpeckSensor app can be downloaded at Google Play, and an iOS version is available through the iTunes Store.

“There are so many people with asthma or a heart condition who need to track air quality,” said Mr. Nourbakhsh, who holds a doctorate in computer science.

Pittsburgh pollution levels are among the worst in the nation. Fine particulate matter, which comes from combustion of fossil fuels, travels deep into the lungs, raising health risks including heart and bronchial disease, asthma attacks and lung cancer.

Southwestern Pennsylvania continues to have some of the nation’s worst PM2.5 levels, but few residents realize that by peering into the sky. But blurred horizons provide a hint of the problem, even with blue, sunny skies.

Heinz Endowments through its Breathe Project and the Pittsburgh Foundation purchased 1,000 Speck devices they made available through public libraries, schools and citizen groups throughout the Pittsburgh area.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project based in Peters now has 240 Speck monitors it provides people in gas fields in four states. It’s systematically gathering home-based particulate levels indoors and outdoors with its nurse practitioner Lenore Resick collecting health information from residents with monitors.

“So far we have seen respiratory issues closer to the well sites,” said Ryan Grode, an environmental health educator with the project. “The more gas, the more respiratory problems.” The group, he said, also has documented increases in headaches, dizziness and even nausea with a link to higher particulate levels.

Spikes in particulate levels can’t be traced to well pads, he said. But when residents are sleeping or away from home, higher particulate levels more likely are linked to gas-well operations, he said.

“What we do know is that higher readings in homes should be looked at and people should be concerned about it,” he said, adding that Speck monitors have proven accurate when compared with government air monitors. “I think Speck is blossoming and more organizations are using it. In time, it will be a really useful tool for a lot of households.”

Ms. Tomcik said her Speck is extremely sensitive to household activities that stir up dust.

“Personally I want to see how things are going in terms of my own air, and I’ve noticed when the kids are playing, they are kicking up dust,” she said. “But it gives people an incredible amount of information. For people who live near unconventional gas well pads, we can monitor the air and see whether the air is safe inside our homes.”

If particulate levels rise for whatever reason, she can open a window or turn on the air purifier. If the air outside is bad, she can close windows.

Jody Handley, 40, who’s concerned about air quality due to allergies, has been testing Speck monitors inside and outside her Squirrel Hill home. High readings often correlate with allergy problems, which she resolves by wearing a mask or clearing the air with an air purifier. She sees levels rise from activities inside the home — while vacuuming floors, making beds or folding clothes, which she said produce lots of dust.

“I’ve been very vocal about improving outdoor air quality,” said Ms. Handley, the mother of two daughters, ages 6 and 4. “We can’t do that, but we can marginally make it better inside our house. That’s important to improve air inside the house for the kids.”