Springerville Generating Station Unit 3

Springerville Generating Station Unit 3 is one of two new coal plants at the site, which already had two other existing 380 MW units. Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) operates the unit and output is divided among TEP (100 MW), Salt River Project (100 MW) and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (218 MW). Coal is supplied by the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, south of Gillete, Wyoming.

Springerville Units 3 and 4 were the subject of a lawsuit brought by Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest on behalf of Western Resource Advocates and Grand Canyon Trust. After a series of court decisions and hearing, a settlement was reached that allowed construction of the plants in exchange for lowered emissions and investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.

On May 6, 2008, the Sierra Club sent a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) notice letter to Tucson Electric requiring the company to install technology to control mercury and other hazardous air pollutant emissions from the proposed units. By July 2008, Unit 3 was operational.

On March 18, 2010, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issued a revised, draft Title V operating permit for the Springerville Station, which incorporates mercury emission limits for the project. Springerville Generating Station Unit 4 began operating in December 2009.

Project Details
Sponsor: Tucson Electric Power Company Location: Springerville, AZ Capacity: 418 MW Type: Pulverized coal Projected in service: 2006 Status: Operating (7/2006)

Financing

 * JP Morgan Chase
 * Wells Fargo

Citizen Groups

 * Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, Tim Hogan, thogan [at] aclpi.org
 * Western Resource Advocates, azbluhill [at] aol.com
 * Grand Canyon Trust, info [at] grandcanyontrust.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Springerville Generating Station Unit 4
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * Arizona and coal
 * Profiles of other states (or click on the map)