Environmental groups underwrite ads critical of power companies

- Environmental groups have underwritten or provided messages for two radio advertisements urging Pennsylvanians to be cognizant of the health problems associated with air pollution.

The ads accuse Allegheny Energy Inc. and a consortium of other power station owners of operating plants that are among the country's largest carbon dioxide polluters.

The facilities in question include Allegheny Energy's Hatfield's Ferry plant in Masontown, Fayette County, and the Keystone Generation Station in Shelocta, Indiana County. Both facilities are rated at 1,710 megawatts and are coal-fired.

The radio ads take issue with the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it dropped the ball in dealing with dirty power plants nationwide.

Specifically, five of 22 instate plants that were under investigation for potential clean air violations emit 22,000 tons of sulphur dioxide annually, the ads say. The investigations were dropped by the Bush administration in November.

"Until very recently, we were seeing real progress under Clean Air Act enforcement to reduce pollution from power plants in Pennsylvania," said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project, which is underwriting the $10,000 worth of radio ads. "That all went out the window with the Bush administration's campaign to dismantle the Clean Air Act, with the wholesale abandonment in 2003 of cases that were under investigation, including major focuses on air pollution from Allegheny Energy and Reliant Energy."

"Allegheny Energy complies with all existing state and federal pollution regulations," said company spokesman Janice Lantz. "All of our plants must meet stringent air pollution guidelines." Lantz added the Hagerstown, Md.-based firm has spent more than $2 billion on air pollution equipment across its power plant portfolio, and is now working on determining what it must do to meet the next round of pollution control mandates.

Houston-based Reliant holds a 16.7 percent share of the Keystone station and also operates the giant facility. Other owners are PPL of Allentown and PSEG of Newark, N.J. Reliant had no comment by press time. "The Keystone power plant emitted more mercury pollution than any other power plant in the United States in 2003," said Myron Arnowitt, western Pennsylvania director of Clean Water Action, in a release. "Both Keystone and Allegheny Energy's Hatfield's Ferry plant operate without any controls for deadly sulphur emissions, which is unconscionable more than 30 years after the Clean Air Act was passed."

The environmental groups urge Pennsylvania legislators to take up the slack for the EPA. Other environmental groups providing ad messages are the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) and the Jefferson Action Group Inc.