Page 22 ■ Thursday, April 5, 2012


NATION & WORLD


EPA, oil companies reach Fort Peck pollution deal


panies have agreed to pay $320,000 to the northeastern Montana city of Poplar to relocate water wells and take other steps to deal with a 40 million gallon plume of pollution seeping into drinking supplies. Environmental Protection Agency scientist Sarah Roberts said March 27 that Poplar’s water so far remains safe to drink but faces imminent danger. Federal offi cials have been tracking the underground plume’s spread from the East Poplar oil fi eld for decades. It is moving toward Poplar and reached city water supplies in 2010. Some wells outside town already


have been rendered undrinkable by the plume of salty pollution. The agreement signed March 26


was between the EPA and Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Murphy Ex- ploration and Production and SGH Enterprises.


BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Oil com-


ter aquifer over a fi ve-decade span fol- lowing drilling in the east Poplar fi eld. The city’s wells serve about 3,000 people in and around Poplar, the seat of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. Like the 2010 EPA order, the settle-


But that was appealed by the com- panies and a federal judge referred the case to mediation, leading to the March 26 agreement. The brine entered the drinking wa-


BAKKEN BREAKOUT WEEKLY


EPA to reduce new power plants’ carbon pollution


By DINA CAPPIELLO Associated Press


WASHINGTON — The Obama ad-


ment requires the companies to close- ly monitor pollution levels. New to the agreement are site-specifi c pollu- tion triggers requiring the companies to provide alternative drinking water supplies before contamination con- centrations become a health problem. That could be through treating con- taminated water or bringing in new supplies.


The agency fi rst ordered the com- panies to deal with the plume in 2010.


oped to construct a new drinking water pipeline to Poplar from the Mis- souri River.


A long-term plan is being devel-


ministration will press ahead with the fi rst-ever limits on heat-trapping pol- lution from new power plants, ignoring protests from Republicans who have said the regulation will raise electricity prices and kill off coal, a dominant U.S. energy source. But the proposal, which was outlined


to The Associated Press by administra- tion offi cials, also will fall short of en- vironmentalists’ hopes because it goes easier than it could have on coal-fi red power — one of the largest sources of the gases blamed for global warming. The offi cials spoke on condition of ano- nymity because they did not want to pre- empt the offi cial announcement. Older coal-fi red power plants have


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already been shutting down across the country, thanks to low natural gas prices, demand from China and weaker demand for electricity. But regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency on controlling pollution downwind and toxic emissions have helped push some into retirement, causing Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail to claim the agency will cause blackouts. Numerous studies and an AP survey of power plant operators have shown that is not the case. The proposed rule will not apply to


existing power plants or new ones built in the next year. It will also give future coal-fi red power plants years to meet the standard, because it will eventually re- quire that carbon pollution be captured


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and stored underground. That technol- ogy is not yet commercially available. A new natural gas-fi red power plant


would meet the new standard without installing additional controls. The regulation, which was due to be


released last July, stemmed from a settle- ment with environmental groups and states. The government already controls global warming pollution at the largest industrial sources, has proposed stan- dards for new vehicles and is working on regulations to reduce greenhouse gases at existing power plants and refi neries. Michael Brune, executive director of


the Sierra Club, an advocacy group fi ght- ing coal-fi red power, said in an interview that the regulation shows that President Barack Obama is moving to a cleaner en- ergy future. “It’s a strong move,” Brune said. “It means there will never be another coal plant built without new technology and it probably means even those won’t be built because they can’t compete.” Republicans said the new rule could


not come at a worse time, with concern about high gasoline prices and energy taking center stage in the presidential election. “At a time when the Obama admin-


istration should be working to lower the price of gas at the pump, it is alarm- ing that they have put forward more global warming regulations,” said Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate environment panel. “Republi- cans are committed to ensuring that the Obama-EPA is fi nally reined in.”


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