The North Dakota Public Service Commission will be holding hearings into what costs for pollution control equipment to be installed at the Big Stone power plant in South Dakota will have to be borne by North Dakota customers.
Installing the equipment will cost more than $400 million. Otter Tail Power Company and Montana Dakota Utilities have an ownership stake in the plant. Commissioner Julie Fedorchak says the new equipment will bring Big Stone in line with federal EPA regulations, as well as South Dakota’s State Improvement Plan for environmental haze.
"Otter Tail says emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury will be reduced by 80 to 90 percent," said Fedorchak.
Commission Chairman Brian Kalk says while he agrees that some investment in pollution control is necessary, the South Dakota haze improvement plan is more stringent than North Dakota’s plan – and he says he has some questions about that.
"We did not agree that the Cadillac version would be needed," said Kalk. "So that will be become the single point of the hearing."
Otter Tail says the average North Dakota customer would pay about $2.32 per month. MDU says its customers would pay an average of #1.52 per month. Kalk says the utilities will have to justify that.
