Turn Your Head And Cough

originally published October 17, 2001

ACC Officials Overlook Enron Plant's Impact On Athens Air, Water

Houston, Texas-based Enron North America is well on its way to siting a 560 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Athens. The ACC Public Utilities Department has signed off on the company's "Athens Energy Center," as have the Planning Department and Planning Commission. With their eyes on the $3 million the company would contribute to the annual tax digest (power from the plant would not be used by Athenians), local officials seem to have adopted a "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to the downsides of the Enron project, in particular how it would further degrade the North Oconee River and local air quality.

What, Me Worry?

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In a report requested by a governmental committee charged with handling the Enron proposal, the UGA Institute of Ecology's Laurie Fowler recommended Athens-Clarke County not proceed with the project until such issues are resolved.

In Fowler's absence, key points from her report were read aloud to ACC Planning Commissioners at their October 4 meeting. According to Fowler and Dr. Rhett Jackson of the UGA Forestry School, the 20 to 27 million gallons of water per day already drawn from the North and Middle Oconee "often nearly equals the flow in the rivers."

When asked by a Planning Commissioner about the effect on the river, ACC Public Utilities Director Gary Duck said the county had received a "very favorable" response from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) regarding the Enron plant. In fact, Duck claimed, permanently removing the water would actually help the river by reducing pollutants. Duck's department stands to gain a $20 million upgrade to its wastewater infrastructure, subsidized in large part by Enron, should the plant locate here.

Duck went on to point out that there is no limit on the amount of water Athens-Clarke County may draw from the North Oconee ("Whenever water's there we can pull it out."). He dismissed concerns about impaired river flow, even in times of drought.

"That doesn't appear to be an issue to me," Duck said, due to the new Bear Creek reservoir, which he expects to go on-line in early November. Duck disagreed with Fowler's numbers on water drawn from the North Oconee, saying Athens-Clarke County uses an average of 17 to 18 million gallons per day, with an all-time peak of 24 million gallons.

Fowler also asked how the reduced water flow might effect the Altamaha Shiner, a fish found in the North and Middle Oconee Rivers - and on the state list of endangered species. That issue has been ignored to this point.

Used Air

If concerns about water quality have been shrugged off by local officials, the damage Enron emissions would do to Athens' air have been completely disregarded at best, misrepresented at worst.

The company line is that the "Athens Energy Center," being natural gas-fired, would offer clean power generation. Documents submitted to the ACC Planning Department boast of "low emission combustion systems" and emissions "that will not adversely impact air quality in the surrounding area."

At the October 4 Planning Commission meeting, Gary Duck and ACC Planning Director Brad Griffin - both of whom were recently flown by Enron to visit a similar plant near Syracuse, New York - talked of that facility's nearly invisible smoke plume.

"It burns natural gas," said Griffin. "Like we burn on a stove at home."

Not exactly. The Athens Enron plant could be allowed to emit up to 198.9 TPY (tons per year) in nitrogen oxides (NOx), 254.5 TPY of carbon monoxide (CO), and 24.6 TPY in volatile organic compounds (VOC). NOx, CO, and VOC combine with heat to make ozone. The plant's figures on particulate matter - tiny airborne particles that accumulate in the respiratory system - show an allowance of 181.1 TPY.

A letter from EPD to Enron regarding its air quality permit application for the Athens plant questions Enron's assertion that reduced emission technologies, such as SCONOX and XONON, are not applicable to the Athens plant. Enron representative Raimund Grube repeated this claim directly to Planning Commissioners on Oct. 4.

As for no adverse impacts on the surrounding area, the proposed site for the "Athens Energy Center" off Newton Bridge Road, isn't as remote as Enron and ACC planners claim.

What no one is saying is that Athens' air already exceeds Ambient Standards several days each year.

"One problem is this is closer to a major urban center than a lot of other power plants," says Robert Ukeiley, an attorney with the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest, a non-profit watchdog group.

Though they are usually at odds, on this point EPD and Ukeiley seem to agree. The EPD letter to Enron criticizes the company's "analysis of alternative sites, sizes, production processes and environmental control techniques" as "severely deficient."

"For example," the letter reads, "in regard to the site, it appears that Enron only looked at sites near Athens. At the very least, since this is a merchant power plant and does not exist to serve a specific need within Georgia, this analysis should be broadened to the southeastern United States."

ACC planners were reminded, during the Planning Commission meeting, that the Enron plant would not exist in a vacuum.

"There are a lot of people who live in this section of town," said Paul Quick, whose residence is less than a mile from the proposed Enron site, and who is concerned about plant emissions.

Enron speaks of compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). But what no one is saying is that Athens' air already exceeds Ambient Standards several days each year - at least six times so far in 2001, and almost three times that many last year.

Who Cares?

Then there's Plant Dahlberg.

Absent from discussions on the "Athens Energy Center," Dahlberg is Southern Company's new gas-fired plant just across the Jackson County line near Sandy Creek. A peakload plant about twice the size of the proposed Enron facility, Dahlberg is already permitted to discharge a far greater amount of pollutants than Enron is asking for: 3,042 TPY in NOx; 6,071 TPY of CO; 280 TPY in VOC; and 461.6 TPY in particulate matter.

There is no mention of Plant Dahlberg in any ACC documents reviewed by Flagpole. Tracking its eventual effect on Athens' air quality, like that of the proposed Enron plant, has been left to EPD - the same agency that allowed Dahlberg to be built in an area already in violation of federal clean air standards. The same agency that will, in all likelihood, ultimately welcome Enron to build here as well.

"EPD has failed us," says Ukeiley. "It's failed all of Georgia. So it's just not the right thing to do to say 'Oh, well we trust that EPD is going to protect us,' if they have a 20-year track record of not protecting us."

But that's exactly what's happening. Even after Enron's Jeffrey Keenan admitted to ACC Planning Commissioners that he didn't know how much formaldehyde, acetylene or benzene Athenians would be inhaling from his company's smokestacks, the group recommended to approve the project by a vote of 4-3.

Enron's "Athens Energy Center" was set to come before the Mayor and Commission on November 6, but has been pulled from the agenda. No further information was available at presstime.