EPA, FirstEnergy to host forum

12/4/2008

The Ohio EPA tonight will hear the pros and cons about granting a variance from tighter mercury regulations to the coal-fired Bay Shore power plant FirstEnergy Corp. operates in Oregon.

The session begins at

6:30 p.m. at the University of Toledo's Lake Erie Center, 6200 Bay Shore Rd., just east of the power plant.

Chris Eck, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said it would be an incredibly costly - if not technologically impossible - feat for the power plant to meet the upcoming regulation that will limit wastewater discharges of mercury to a concentration of less than 1.3 parts per trillion.

The Ohio EPA said in a recent news release that current treatment processes "are capable of removing some mercury from the wastewater," but agreed the utility "would have to install extremely costly technology that would substantially impact costs."

The new rule is to take effect a year from now.