Clean Energy & Global Warming Solutions News Releases

PORTLAND, OR – Portland General Electrict (PGE) announced on Thursday that intended to shutdown its coal-fired power plant in Boardman, Oregon, by 2020.  This announcement was a significant departure from PGE’s integrated resource plan submitted to the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) last fall that called for the continued operation of the Boardman coal plant at least through the year 2040.  PGE’s commitment to stakeholders also reaffirms the analysis and position of Environment Oregon, Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, and several other organizations that the power plant can and should be retired as soon as possible.

In reaction to PGE’s new position on Boardman, Environment Oregon’s State Policy Advocate Brock Howell released the following statement:

“Environment Oregon lauds PGE for recognizing that the Boardman coal plant will be too expensive to operate in the long term and for committing to shutdown the plant by 2020.  This commitment means the plant will be shutdown at least 20 years earlier than originally proposed by PGE in its integrated resource plan submitted to the PUC.

“As Oregon’s number one polluter, PGE’s Boardman coal plant emits more than 4.8 million tons of greenhouse gases each year. Shutting down Boardman 20 years early will significantly reduce Oregon’s global warming pollution.

“PGE’s Boardman also emits significant amounts of toxic air pollutants like mercury.  A 2006 agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality requires PGE to install emission controls by 2017.* Although the details of PGE’s proposal to renegotiate this agreement will need to be closely scrutinized, a shutdown of PGE’s Boardman coal plant by 2020 is likely more beneficial than letting it operate and emit toxic air pollutants until 2040. [*CLARIFICATION NOTED BELOW]

“Environment Oregon’s analysis shows that PGE can safely and cost-effectively shutdown its Boardman coal plant before 2020.  Every year PGE delays on shutting down its Boardman coal plant is another year of greenhouse gases and toxic air pollution threatening Oregonians’ health and livelihood.

“Some analyses have already shown that PGE’s Boardman coal plant can be shutdown by 2014.  In addition, regulatory and cost factors previously not considered may also prove that the Boardman coal plant needs to be retired even more quickly than 2020.  The U.S. EPA is currently writing stricter regulations for ozone and sulfur dioxide emissions as well as the first ever federal greenhouse gas regulation.  PGE and the PUC will need to assess how these new regulations will affect the Boardman coal plant.

“PGE has committed to engaging stakeholders to determine when and how the facility can be safely and cost-effectively shutdown.  Environment Oregon is committed to this new process and shutting down the facility at a time that is right for electricity consumers, ratepayers, and the health of Oregonians and the environment.  Environment Oregon will support necessary agreements or state legislation to expedite the closure of PGE’s Boardman coal plant.

“The inevitable closure of PGE’s Boardman coal plant will require an investment in newer, cleaner energy sources.  Environment Oregon believes a significant investment in weatherization and energy efficiency, rooftop and large-scale solar, and wind farms and tidal power, each built in an environmentally sensitive manner, will assure the replacement of PGE’s Boardman coal plant will emit substantially less global warming and toxic air pollution.

“PGE’s announcement marks a major milestone on Oregon’s path to a 100 percent clean, renewable energy future.  Environment Oregon looks forward to engaging in PGE’s stakeholder group to determine the earliest feasible date to shutdown PGE’s Boardman coal plant.”

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CLARIFICATION (1/18/2010): The sentence, "A 2006 agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality requires PGE to install emission controls by 2017," does not fully describe the emission control standard requirements for the Boardman facility.  In 2006, Environment Oregon and other environmental groups won a campaign when PGE agreed to install emission controls to reduce 90% of mercury-causing emissions by 2012 and when DEQ conducted rulemaking to enforce this standard.  This rule continued to be drafted and modified until 2009, when DEQ finalized the rule.  The rule required reducing NOx 46% by July 2011, SO2 80% by July 2014, particulate matter 29% by July 2014, and NOx an additional 38% by July 2017.  The DEQ also expressed an explicit willingness to alter the emission control requirements if PGE planned to shutdown the facility in 2020 or earlier. The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted DEQ's recommendations on June 19, 2009.  For more information, visit http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/haze/pge.htm.

Press-Statement-on-PGEs-Boardman-Shutdown-Announcement.pdf