----- Forwarded by Miyung Buster/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT on 03/23/2001 02:16 PM 
-----

	Rob Bradley@ENRON
	03/23/2001 09:22 AM
		 
		 To: Miyung Buster/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT
		 cc: 
		 Subject: "Green Coal" power plant planned for Washington State

Please distribute

March 23, 2001, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

'Green' coal plant is planned

by Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Washington's first new coal-fired power plant in 30 years is being
planned for Cherry Point in Whatcom County.

The plant is proposed to generate 249 megawatts of power and could be up
and running within 36 months, said John O'Brien of U.S. Electric Power of
Point Lookout, N.Y.

The plant's size falls just below the requirement for review by the state
Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. The facility must still meet all
requirements of the federal Clean Air Act as well as state air-pollution
controls.

Coal is considered the dirtiest of major fuels for power generation,
emitting more carbon dioxide and gases that lead to smog than natural
gas.

But coal plants vary widely in the amount of emissions they produce,
depending on the quality of the coal, the technology used to burn it and
the environmental standards.

O'Brien said the plant will burn only ultralow-sulfur coal and use stack
scrubbers and other technology to make the coal plant at least as clean
as a natural-gas-fired plant.

"We are going to employ the best technology, and we will spend the money
to make sure it happens. If there is anything dirty about it, we will not
build it."

The company is also examining ways to partially offset carbon-dioxide
emissions - the major cause of global warming - through reforestation of
land in northwestern Washington, O'Brien said.

"On CO2, we will do our best, and we will do better than anyone else, and
more than any of the gas-fired folks," he said.

O'Brien says he knows the plant will be controversial despite his planned
"Green Coal" public-relations campaign beginning May 1.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/got
oArticle?zsection_id=268466359&text_only=0&slug=coal23m&document_id=1342765
28

Gregory Rehmke
Foundation for Economic Education
(914) 591-7230 x213; Cell: (914) 760-5638
www.freespeaker.org