Davis Health Department opposes power plant

FARMINGTON — Count on the Davis County Board of Health to officially oppose a proposed power plant in West Bountiful.

On Monday, during the board's first special meeting since 2001, it voted unanimously to send Davis County Health Department director Lewis Garrett to speak out during a public hearing against an operating permit for a 109-megawatt power plant.

Consolidated Energy Systems wants to build the plant at 400 S. 1100 West in West Bountiful, just west of the Holly Oil Woods Cross Refinery.

The plant is designed to run on residual oil and petroleum coke, two cheap, but dirty, fuels that are byproducts of the refining process.

The Utah Division of Air Quality, which is holding a public hearing on an operating permit for the 109-megawatt power plant at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, has recommended the permit be approved, because the facility is not expected to drastically increase the air pollution in Davis County.

Residents and two activist groups — Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and Utah Moms for Clean Air — have said another source of pollution is one too many.

Five refineries, a medical waste incinerator and the 218,000 cars that drive through Davis County every day already contribute to the pollution, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Wasatch Front as a nonattainment, or noncompliance, area for particulate matter 2.5 microns in size.

A handful of residents have contacted Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, who represents West Bountiful, and a couple of dozen phone calls and e-mails have been received in Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s office.

So have 26 postcards depicting smoke-belching smokestacks with a prewritten message asking Huntsman to stop the issuance of the permit.

The groups have spoken out against the plant's permit, and the Davis Board of Health has now added its voice with the resolution it approved Monday.

The resolution states that if permitted, the proposed plant's authorized nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions would nullify 60 percent of the reduction in NOx and 14 percent of the reduction in volatile organic compound emissions achieved by the county's vehicle inspection and maintenance program.

It also states that adding another particulate and NOx generator in the area is not good public health or environmental policy at this time.