Arkansas PSC Staff and Entergy Arkansas Ask For Delay in White Bluff Proceeding
The Arkansas Public Service Commission Staff sought a suspension of the procedural schedule in the Commission's White Bluff docket on December 3. Entergy Arkansas joined in that effort today.
The requested delay is based upon the response of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Forest Service to the proposed permit for the facility to be issued by ADEQ. In a letter to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality regarding the permit application for the White Bluff upgrades, the EPA noted that:
we do not feel an SO2 emission limit of 0.15 lbs/MMBtu has been shown by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to be BART [Best Available Retrofit Technology]. . . [W]e do not believe ADEQ has properly conducted its BART analyses . . . including the Entergy White Bluff facility, as required by 40 CFR 51.308. Had this analysis been performed, we feel that a more stringent control level would have been likely shown to be BART.
The U.S. Forest Service echoed those concerns.
The upshot is that action by the EPA and other federal agencies could delay the implementation of the upgrades beyond the 2013 target date. Therefore, the Commission Staff and Entergy have requested a suspension of the procedural schedule until the federal concerns are addressed by the ADEQ.
More important than the procedural delay, however, is the effect of the federal action on whether the project, as proposed, can move forward. If there is a change in the allowable emissions rate, that may effect whether the technology proposed to be used is sufficient to meet the new allowable emission rate.
