More than $2M OK’d for CWLP power plant upgrades – Nov 18, 2014

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council Tuesday approved spending more than $2 million on upgrades to two of the four Dallman Power Plant units, to ensure compliance with new Environmental Protection Agency standards. Unanimous approval of spending nearly $2.2 million on an agreement with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc. for upgrades at City Water, Light and Power came amid a campaign by the Sierra Club urging that the oldest of the two Dallman units in question be retired.

Converting all four of the Dallman Power Plant units to a natural-gas startup is required to comply with new EPA emissions standards for power plants, which are being rolled out beginning next year. If they don’t comply, they’ll be forced out of operation. And at least right now, continuing to operate Dallman units 31 and 32 would be much less costly than retiring them, and losing the generators would mean higher bills for CWLP customers, chief utilities engineer Eric Hobbie said.

“It’s an indirect rate increase if you close the plants,” Hobbie told aldermen in a presentation before their vote. Three of the utility’s four generators use fuel-oil burners for the initial startup, while the fourth and newest unit uses natural gas. According to Hobbie, closing the two oldest Dallman units would come with $11.4 million in closure costs, compared with one-year net revenue of $430,000. It would also mean a loss of other revenue, as power generated from the plants contributes to payments in lieu of taxes the utility makes to the city.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin proposed in an amendment to the ordinance that some additional periodic cost analysis be done on the two units, which was shot down in a 3-6 vote. McMenamin at a meeting last week questioned the investment in the two older units. The entire cost of the natural-gas startup project is in the range of $10 million. “None of us want to fall in love with a power plant” that’s not economically viable, McMenamin said, urging a second opinion before the vote.

The Sierra Club, an environmental organization pushing for one-third of the nation’s coal-fired power plants to be closed by 2020, have in the past month addressed the council on the issue. Representatives said they’ve collected 1,000 postcards urging retirement of the two units, which they presented to city leaders.

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Council coordinator

Aldermen voted 8-1 to appoint their former colleague, Griffin, city council coordinator next year, meaning he’ll likely work with at least a few of them in the next council term. Griffin resigned last week as Ward 10 alderman to pursue the coordinator post.

Two aldermen maintained Tuesday that they thought a newly elected city council next spring should have made the decision on a coordinator, noting at least half of the aldermen will be leaving come May. McMenamin and Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson both raised the issue, but Simpson was the only one to vote against the appointment, which she said wasn’t about Griffin, but the timing of the decision.