Environmentalists See EPA's Revised Power Plant Permit Backing Strict ELG

摘要

Environmentalists are applauding a recently revised draft permit for a New Hampshire power plant, arguing the permit's requirement for a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system for treating scrubber wastewater helps make the case for the strictest technology option in EPA's pending revision to the effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) for the power sector. The April 18 revised proposal for the coal-fired Merrimack Station plant finds that primary and secondary treatment technologies capable of operating as a ZLD system qualify as best available technology (BAT) for the facility. An earlier draft had required chemical and biological treatment for the waste stream. Although the agency says the permit only sets a site-specific technology rinding, advocates say it provides additional justification for the strongest option in the proposed ELG "It provides even further support for EPA's proposal that this is the best standard under the Clean Water Act," an environmentalist says, adding that EPA must show a technology is available and economically achievable by the industry before determining it is BAT. As more plants install ZLD systems, the source says, the agency is able to say, "Yes, it works for power plants and they can afford it."