EPA SUPPLEMENTS PROPOSAL FOR FOUR CORNERS POWER PLA NT

ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUPPLEMENTAL PROPOSAL, COMMENT PERI OD, AND

PUBLIC HEARINGS

EPA-R09-OAR-2010-0683

The Region 9 Office of the United States Environmen tal Protection Agency (EPA) requests public comment on a Supplemental Proposal on the So urce Specific Federal Implementation Plan for Implementing Best Available Retrofit Techn ology for Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP). The Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule requ ires the use of Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) at older coal-fired power plants to reduce haze and improve visibility.

On February 9, 2011, EPA signed a Supplemental Noti ce that proposes to allow FCPP the option to close Units 1 – 3 by 2014 and to meet an emissio n limit for nitrogen oxides (NOx) of 0.098 lb/MMBtu on Units 4 and 5 by July 31, 2018, in lieu of complying with our October 19, 2010 proposed BART determination. This alternative emiss ion control strategy will result in an 87% reduction in NOx emissions. Our Supplemental Notice provides our analysis and proposed

determination that this alternative emission contro l strategy would result in more progress than EPA’s October 2010 BART proposal towards achieving the national visibility goal in the surrounding Class I areas. EPA requests comment o n this Supplemental Proposal and is continuing to accept comment on October 2010 propos ed BART determination. In this Supplemental Notice, EPA is announcing four public hearing events in the Four Corners area, and opening a public comment period on our Suppleme ntal Proposal and extending the comment period for our October 2010 proposal to May 2, 2011

.

EPA’s October 19, 2010 proposal required the Four C orners Power Plant to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 80% and to reduce emission s of particulate matter (PM) by 57% to achieve cleaner, healthier air while improving the visibility at sixteen of our most pristine national parks and wilderness areas. EPA’s October 2010 proposal can be achieved by installing and operating selective catalytic reduction (SCR) o n all five units and new PM control equipment of three of the five units at the facilit y.

Following EPA’s BART proposal, on November 24, 2010 , Arizona Public Service (APS), the operator and one of six co-owners of Four Corners P ower Plant, proposed, as a BART alternative, to close Units 1 – 3 by 2014 and insta ll SCR on Units 4 and 5 by 2018 to meet a NOx limit of 0.11 lb/MMBtu, contingent upon final lease agreements with the Navajo Nation, final coal purchase agreements with BHP Billiton, and fed eral and state approval of the acquisition by APS of Southern California Edison’s ownership share in Units 4 and 5. APS and BHP Billiton have pledged that closure of Units 1 – 3 will not r esult in any layoffs at the power plant or the

mine.

All information submitted by the facility is availa ble as part of the administrative record. The supplemental proposal and supporting documents, as well as the October 2010 proposal, technical support document, and other supporting in formation are available on the EPA Region 9 website at http://www.epa.gov/region9/air/navajo/in dex.html#proposed. The administrative record may also be viewed in person, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at theEPA Region 9 address below. Due to building securit y procedures, please contact Anita Lee at

(415) 972-3958 or by email at r9air_fcppbart@epa.go v to arrange a visit at least 24 hours in

advance.

EPA is holding open houses – for the purpose of pro viding additional information and informal discussion of our proposal and supplemental proposa l, and public hearings – to accept oral comments into the record, as follows:

Date: March 29, 2011 Time: Open House: 3:00 – 6:00 pm Public Hearing: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Location: Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center Highway 64 West Shiprock, New Mexico 87420

Date: March 30, 2011 Time: Open House and Public Hearing 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Location: Nenahnezad Chapter House – Multi-purpose Room

Highway 64 to County Road 6675 to end of Navajo Rou te 365 Fruitland, New Mexico

Date: March 30, 2011 Time: Open House: 3:00 – 5:00 pm Public Hearing: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Location: San Juan College

Henderson Fine Arts Bldg – Rooms 9006 & 9008 4601 College Blvd Farmington, New Mexico 87402

Date: March 31, 2011 Time: Open House: 3:00 – 5:00 pm Public Hearing: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Location: Fort Lewis College

Center of Southwest Studies - Lyceum Room

1000 Rim Drive Durango, Colorado, 81301,

Any person may provide written or oral comments, in English or Dine, and data pertaining to our proposal at the Public Hearing. English-Dine trans lation services will be provided at both the Open Houses and the Public Hearings on the Navajo N ation in Shiprock and Fruitland, as well as in Farmington, New Mexico. We will not provide Engl ish-Dine Translation services in Durango unless we receive a request to do so by March 14, 2 011.

If you require a reasonable accommodation, by March 14, 2011, please contact Terisa Williams, EPA Region 9 Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator, at (415) 972-3829, or Williams.Terisa@epa.gov

.If you are unable to attend the public hearings, bu t wish to submit comments, you may submit

comments by electronic mail or postal mail to the a ddress listed below. All comments on the proposal must be received by email or postmarked on or before May 2, 2011 . An extension of this comment period may be granted if a request for an extension adequately demonstrates that more time is required to give commenters a reasonab le opportunity to prepare comments. Comments should address the October 2010 proposal o r the February 2011 Supplemental Proposal, in particular:

1. The available technologies to control PM or NO

x ; 2. The cost of controls;

3. The energy, economic, and non-air quality impacts o f controls;

4. The existing controls at the facility;

5. The remaining useful life of the facility, and;

6. The degree of improvement in visibility which may r easonably anticipated to result from the use of such technology.

Any written comments must be received (if sent by e -mail) or postmarked (if sent by U.S. mail)

on or before May 2, 2011 at the following addresses:

E-mail: r9air_fcppbart@epa.gov

U.S. Mail: Anita Lee (AIR-3) U.S. EPA Region 9

75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

All comments that are received will be included in the public docket without change and will be available to the public, including any personal inf ormation provided, unless the comment includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information that you conside r CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly

identified as such and should not be submitted thro ugh e-mail. If you send e-mail directly to the EPA, your e-mail address will be automatically capt ured and included as part of the public comment. Please note that an e-mail or postal addr ess must be provided with your comments if you wish to receive direct notification of EPA’s fi nal decision regarding the permit and responses to comments submitted during the public c omment period.

EPA will consider all written and oral comments sub mitted during the public comment period before taking final action and will send notice of the final decision to each person who submitted comments and contact information during the public comment period or requested notice of the final decision. EPA will respond to all substantive comments in a document accompanying the

final determination and will make the Public Hearin g proceedings available to the public.

If you have questions, please contact Anita Lee at (415) 972-3958 or email at r9air_fcppbart@epa.gov.Please bring the foregoing notice to the attention of all persons who would be interested in this

matter.