About
In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ruling telling Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to install pollution controls or shut down two of the nation’s largest polluting coal plants in Emery County, Utah.
Rocky Mountain Power failed to install these pollution controls, and both plants have continued to pollute Utah’s airshed for years. To address this failure of RMP, the EPA has issued a federal standard known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) to clean up these emissions.
The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSPAR), better known as “the good neighbor rule,” has been applied to Eastern States to regulate and reduce ozone-forming emissions that leave power plants and cross state lines. The EPA has recently announced expanding this rule to include western states such as Utah and Wyoming.
Hunter and Huntington power plants are the country’s largest nitrogen oxide (NOx) sources in Emery, Utah. According to the Clean Air Task Force, they emitted more than 35 million pounds of NOx in 2021, contributing to 44 premature deaths and 601 asthma attacks.
They are also two of the most water-intensive facilities in the West, consuming more than 8.6 billion gallons of water in 2021 from the Colorado river basin.
Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is a cost-effective technology that uses a urea-based diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and a catalytic converter to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions significantly.
Taxpayer Money Handout for fossil fuels.
Utah Lawmakers plan to appropriate 2 million taxpayer dollars this legislative session to fund Rocky Mountain Powers’ legal lawsuit challenging the EPA’s ruling to include Utah and Wyoming in the CSAPR, better known as the “Good Neighbor Rule” of the Clean Air Act.
FUND A JUST TRANSITION, NOT FOSSIL FUELS
HEAL Utah opposes this allocation of taxpayer dollars towards an already heavily subsidized and well-funded fossil fuel corporation.
Lawmakers are responsible for using public dollars to improve Utah’s quality of life, and by funding a lawsuit, our lawmakers risk wasting $2 million. Lawmakers should instead allocate funds to support coal-dependent communities transitioning towards clean energy.
Take Action- CLOSED
- This action alert has been closed. The Utah State Legislature will be going forward with funneling 2 Million taxpayer dollars towards this litigation. Our team will continue to work on ways to challenge this.
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