The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will say in a notice in the Aug. 30 Federal Register that it is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision from the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection covering emission requirements for the changeover from coal-fired units U4, U5 and U6 to a new natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) unit U15 and auxiliary boiler U16 at Louisville Gas and Electric‘s Cane Run Generating Station.
This rule will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
In June 2011, LG&E submitted to the Air Pollution Control Board of Jefferson County an application for a permit to construct the new NGCC unit U15 and auxiliary boiler U16 and retire the three coal-fired units at Cane Run to comply with federal requirements, including the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. In response, in July 2012, the board adopted Amendment 2 establishing NOx emission rates for the new units. In February 2013, the state submitted a SIP revision for EPA to approve the Cane Run Generating Station NOx RACT Plan Amendment 2 into the Kentucky SIP.
The NOx RACT Plan Amendment 2 includes two parts:
- Part 1, the existing NOx RACT Plan for the coal-fired units, which will remain in effect until those units are retired; and
- Part 2, the plan that will become effective upon the start of operation of the NGCC facility and the shut-down of the coal-fired units.
In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on June 15, 2016, EPA proposed to approve Kentucky’s February 2013, submission, for the purpose of establishing emission requirements for this changeover. No comments were received on the June 15 proposed rulemaking.
The coal capacity at the Cane Run plant was shut as of June 2015, which is the point where the new gas-fired power plant at the site went into operation.
