NRG Energy will close the plant’s oldest two units by 2011. Closing those generating units will cut emissions of nitrogen oxides by nearly 4,600 tons and sulfur dioxide by 24,000 tons per year, DNREC statistics show.

As part of a consent decree signed with the department, the company will also install pollution-control equipment to bring it into compliance with the state’s multi-pollutant regulations. New technology on the two newer units will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 75 percent or more, sulfur dioxide by 85 percent and acid gas by more than 80 percent each year, department officials said. It will also cut in half emissions of particulate matter.

Officials hail improvements

DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara said, “This project represents the largest single reduction in air emissions ever in Delaware and can serve as a model for generating cleaner energy across the nation.” He said air and water quality and public health would benefit from the changes.

Gov. Jack Markell said improvements at the plant would lead to substantially better air quality. “The health of our environment is linked to the health of our residents and the strength of our economy, and the half billion dollars of investment will create up to 500 construction jobs in Sussex County during this difficult economic period,” he said.

State environmental officials said the reductions could save an estimated $2 billion in avoided health care costs.

But local environmentalists, including members of Citizens for Clean Power, say DNREC’s order reflects the terms of a 2007 consent order and requires nothing new.

Markell and O’Mara deserve recognition for their efforts thus far, said CCP member Pat Gearity. “For the first time, DNREC acknowledges a connection between emissions from the Indian River plant and increased asthma, heart disease and cancer rates in the region,” Gearity said.

“Even after the new controls are in place, thousands of tons of toxic sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide will be emitted annually from the stacks at Indian River, along with heavy metals,” Gearity said. “So long as Delaware continues to allow release of harmful chemicals and residues into our air, water and ground by coal-burning plants, public health and the environment will be threatened.”

New monitors will test air

NRG Energy chose the type of equipment it will install. The company will also install air-monitoring stations upwind and downwind of the facility to help scientists determine how much fine particulate matter is in the air around the plant. Environmentalists for more than six years have been pressing for permanent air-quality monitors around the plant.

They said such monitors would help scientists and medical professionals determine whether there is a link between industrial pollution and disease. At an August public hearing on the permits for the project, local union workers came out strongly in favor of the plan, saying it would generate much-needed jobs and bring money into the local economy.