EPA: Kentucky plant breaches environmental legislation

An air quality permit held by a Kentucky coal-fired plant may be violating environmental legislation, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The government body is in agreement with campaign groups that maintain that the plant - which is run by Valley Authority - has not properly accounted for its effect on local air quality, which constitutes a violation of the Clean Air Act, Power Engineering reported.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the permit for the 2,273 MW Paradise fossil fuel plant, which has three units and was completed between 1963 and 1970, failed to require pollution controls and monitoring for nitrogen oxide contamination.

She claimed that it did not require adequate monitoring systems for opacity and NOX and that monitoring of soot emissions from the coal washing and handling plant was insufficient.

The plant is located in western Kentucky, on the Green River near the village of Paradise.

Written by Lauren Steadman