The company planning to build a gas-fired power plant in Waldorf has reached an agreement with state regulators, clearing the way for final approval by the state’s Public Service Commission.
Competitive Power Ventures announced Monday that it has finalized and signed a 30-page agreement with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Power Plant Research Group. The agreement sets pollution limits for the plant and outlines procedures for CPV to mitigate the plant’s impacts on local air quality, natural resources and water use. With the agreement complete, the focus shifts to the PSC’s hearing examiner Joel Bright, who will craft a draft decision for CPV and state regulators to review and perhaps appeal.
Bright said that he expects to issue a decision soon, possibly by next week. “I think it will come out fairly shortly,” Bright said, adding that he will leave the order open to appeal by interested parties for seven to 30 days. If no one appeals the order, it becomes the final decision of the PSC. Bright said he has been led to understand that none of the principal parties involved in the approval —CPV and state regulators — are planning to appeal the order.
However, Bright cautioned that his order will address the issue of water use by the plant. CPV plans to use 67,000 to 97,000 gallons of groundwater a day to clean and operate the plant, which is planned for the site of the defunct Kelson Ridge project on Billingsley Road. Bright said his office has been working on mitigation provisions for the water use since the last PSC hearing he conducted in July 2008.
The agreement CPV recently signed with the PPRG specifically addressed another water use issue concerning the proposed plant. CPV is still working on an agreement with the county to use treated sewage effluent to cool the plant.
The agreement would set the clarity target for water coming from the county’s Mattawoman wastewater treatment plant to a very low five nephelometric turbidity units — very clear water. The water would not be allowed to go higher than 15 NTUs. CPV Project Director Sharon Segner said the target is realistic and praised the performance of the Mattawoman plant.
“We remain very impressed with the quality of the water from Mattawoman wastewater treatment plant,” Segner said.
“We are very focused on our discussions with Charles County on a development agreement. … We are working very hard to get to ‘yes.’” If CPV and the county cannot reach an agreement on water cooling, within the next year, the Waldorf plant will be approved for air-cooling by default. The agreement also sets ceilings for the amount of pollution that the plant can generate. It holds particle emissions to 151 tons per year, nitrogen oxides to 134 tons and volatile organic compounds to 44 tons. According to Segner, CPV will be required to purchase environmental offset credits within the Washington, D.C., area to mitigate these pollutants.
However, the amount of carbon offsets CPV will be required to purchase is still under review. In April, the Maryland legislature saddled the company with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon cap and trade requirement that CPV estimated would cost the Waldorf project more than $8 million a year.
