Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
City Water, Light and Power must convert all of its Dallman power plant units to a natural gas startup to comply with new sweeping U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, or else they’ll be forced out of operation by the new standards. At least one Springfield alderman wants an outside analysis done before the council approves a $2.16 million contract with an engineering firm to start the upgrade process on the plant’s two older units.
“We’ve had quite a bit of discussion about how much we want to invest in units 31 and 32 moving forward,” Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said at Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting. “The question is, Do we want to think this through some more before going down this path?”
Three of the city-owned utility’s four Dallman power plant units currently use fuel oil burners for the initial startup, while the fourth and newest unit uses natural gas on startup. All four will need to be switched to natural gas, and the city needs to begin making the change now as the EPA emissions regulations for power plants begin to be phased in over the next three years, CWLP chief utilities engineer Eric Hobbie said.
Recently, representatives associated with the Sierra Club, an environmental organization pushing for one-third of the nation’s coal-fired power plants to be closed by 2020, have addressed the Springfield City Council, urging the phaseout of CWLP’s two older power plant units. As it stands right now for Springfield, upgrading the units to come into compliance with the new EPA standards is a much cheaper option than retiring them, Hobbie told aldermen Wednesday.
The city council on Tuesday will take up a proposed ordinance that would authorize a $2.16 million agreement for engineering services with the firm Burns & McDonnell for design and consulting services related to the project. That’s a fraction of the cost of the total natural gas startup project, which is expected to cost about $10 million, including equipment and construction costs. The entire project is expected to be complete by 2017.
If the city doesn’t foot the $2.16 million for engineering costs now and closes the older units instead, that would cost the city $10 million in closing costs and transmission upgrades next year alone, Hobbie said. Additionally, keeping all four units running contributes to the payment in lieu of taxes the utility regularly makes to the city’s corporate fund, and it also affords customers fuel adjustment savings, Hobbie said.
McMenamin, meanwhile, was pushing for “outside” advice before the council makes its decision. Hobbie said he’d have a presentation ready for Tuesday’s city council meeting, which is also when the proposed engineering contract will come up for a vote.
The appointment of former Ward 10 Ald. Tim Griffin to the city council coordinator post will also come up for a vote at next week’s council meeting.
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Other business
* Aldermen considered an ordinance that would authorize an $850,000 supplemental appropriation from the unappropriated corporate fund balance for property demolitions by the Office of Public Works in the upcoming season. The corporate fund will be reimbursed by tax increment financing funds and Community Development Block Grant funds up to $300,000, Public Works Director Mark Mahoney said.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 