Plant manager Rodger Holt, behind him, looks down from the two-story-high machine that environmental regulations and market forces have sidelined. If these subsidies last the two or three decades until technology becomes sustainable and widespread adoption occurs organically, there is no issue. “We call it 10 stories but ours are a lot bigger than normal,” he says. “IBEW also was involved when President Obama had his national energy plan,” he said, “making sure coal was considered a viable means of generation and that it should not be phased out.“The companies are being bombarded by environmental groups and the EPA with new requirements,” Cox said, “and I believe there’s a fear by the companies they could go make these retrofits and government could come in and require them to close before they could recover those investments.”Anti-coal sentiments have state-level implications, he said, with Oregon, for example, saying clearly “they do not want to pay for any investment recovery with a coal-fired plant.”“They’re between a rock and a hard spot,” Cox said of PacifiCorp. But the Kemmerer community has lost jobs and at monthly union meetings, workers say they are concerned, Cox said.“They feel outnumbered,” he said. Unit 3, which generates 280 megawatts net, can power 140,000 homes, said Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for PacifiCorp and its subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power.Holt, who has worked 17 years with PacifiCorp and served at the Naughton Plant since 2006, chose his assignment in Kemmerer because of the plant and town. We have no option at this point.”Workers took their medicine stoically, Holt said. A key element and market driver that doesn’t seem to have factored in to your conclusions are the extensive subsidies for construction and operation of renewables. Fort Collins, another liberal strong hold, is ranked 22nd in dirtiest air cities. “It’s definitely shriveling up.”President George H. W. Bush signed the amended Clean Air Act at the White House in 1990, starting the cascading events that culminate today at Naughton Plant’s Unit 3. Naughton has three existing coal -fired boilers and based on the current stack configuration, Boilers 1 and 2 exhaust through a combined 476-foot stack. There’s a big movement in the country as far as anti-coal.”The union testified in EPA haze hearings regarding pollution in the National Park System — part of the regional haze issue, he said. PacifiCorp and its 1.9 million utility customers could save $599 million by retiring several coal-fired electrical generating units in Wyoming and elsewhere — including early closures at the Jim Bridger and Naughton plants — according to a company analysis unveiled last week.
The act has benefited crop yield and human health, curtailed building degradation, boosted water and air quality and reduced asthma in kids, Hansen said.The best estimate is the act prevents 35,000 premature deaths annually, he said.“I’m sorry to see jobs change,” Hansen said, “but jobs change all the time. There are no planned layoffs at the plant, Cox agreed, something the union strived for. Last week Steve Burgess was at the helm of Unit 3, rattling off the plant’s statistics, pointing to graphs, flow charts and spreadsheets as he explained some workings.He pushed a big red emergency button in a demonstration. Unit 3, which generates 280 megawatts net, can power 140,000 homes, said Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for PacifiCorp and its subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power. It’s happening! “They feel they’re actually victims. Otherwise, we’ll come to regret these premature changes based on artificial market influence. Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.Dave Eskelsen surveys the Unit 3 coal grinder that shut down Jan. 30. “This company has gone through a tremendous amount of technological change,” he said.After WWII, with the proliferation of electrical appliances, the rush was on to build power plants. Similarly, the City of Denver which has nearly 11 times the population of Cheyenne, also has a higher localized concentration of air pollution.. What an ingenious observation you have made there.In the 1980’s I worked on a project that installed a natural gas pipeline to the Naughton Plant, seems logical to convert Unit #3 to Natural Gas, afterall some of the largest gas deposits are in the region. When you factor in environmental remediation of the land and coal ash dumps, not to mention health impacts of air pollution, the cost of coal is much, much higher.With respect to renewables, the subsidy programs have been wildly successful at driving down the costs, and today wind and solar are the cheapest forms of generation in many markets and their costs keep falling: 5-20% each year.As a result, the vast majority of new generation capacity going in today is renewable today.Just wanted to raise the point that the nitrogen oxide control requirements came from a state permit, not a federal permit from EPA. Contact him at Wyoming has 110 years worth of coal reserves remaining. The Naughton Plant is operated and fully‐owned by PacifiCorp. To keep the workers informed, some time ago he called a meeting to quell speculation.