The Colorado Air Pollution Control Division is taking public comment until Oct. 5 on a plan by Colorado Springs Utilities to essentially swap NOx compliance obligations for one coal-fired unit apiece at the Martin Drake and Ray Nixon power plants.
Martin Drake Units 5-7 and Ray Nixon Unit 1 are subject to regional haze requirements for NOx, SO2 and particulate matter, with the proposed changes only applying to the NOx mandates.
Colorado Springs Utilities in a letter to the division explained that it was unable to get needed equipment vendor guarantees for the NOx reductions at Nixon Unit 1, which is subject to an end of 2016 compliance deadline. So it is working on a new request for proposals for this work.
The municipal utility, while it lines up the new emissions controls, is asking to move back the Nixon 1 compliance deadline by one year to the end of 2017 so it can work out these issues and get the equipment installed. In exchange, it will move up the Martin Drake Unit 7 NOx deadline by one year, to the end of 2014, instead of the current end of 2015. The Martin Drake Units 5 and 6 deadlines at the end of 2016 and end of 2015 for NOx compliance would remain the same.
