News from the North

The Wyoming Outdoor Council and the Sierra Club have sued Wyoming power giant Pacificorp for violating the Clean Air Act at its coal burning Jim Bridger Power Plant--1,000 times.

The news is great. The Jim Bridger Power Plant is massive. It releases more nitrogen oxides than all five coal burning power plants in the Denver metro region. Nitrogen oxides degrade lungs, form smog and acid rain, and condense to form microscopic acidic droplets that are linked to heart disease and premature death.

Mercury, lead, dioxins, and hydrochloric acid also spew from the plant's smokestacks, according to Pacificorp's website.

Pacificorp violated limits on opacity, which is the density of air pollution coming out of the smokestack, over 1,000 times. Opacity is essentially a measure of how visible is the pollution from a smokestack. The more visible it is, the more unhealthy it is. And, in most every case, the more visible it is, the more illegal it is. Opacity violations are a sign that Pacificorp needs to upgrade its pollution controls.

In the news, Pacificorp stated that it intends to spend $1 billion to upgrade pollution controls at the Jim Bridger Power Plant. This is great news, it means that Pacificorp will likely settle the lawsuit against them and simply commit to following through with what they've been planning all along.

That's what should happen. We'll see, though.