Jul. 1--WATERFLOW -- Operators of the San Juan Generating Station on Tuesday opened the power plant for community leaders to highlight newly completed environmental protection equipment renovations.

PNM and other plant co-owners have invested $330 million at the 1,800-megawatt coal-fired power plant, 15 miles west of Farmington, to dramatically reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, coal dust particles and mercury.

The emissions-reducing upgrade was agreed upon as a settlement to a 2002 lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust following reports of more than 60,000 air quality violations at the San Juan Generating Station, which generates almost 60 percent of PNM's electricity provided throughout New Mexico.

PNM and other utility owners also were required to pay New Mexico nearly $7 million in fines.

The renovations are anticipated to reduce plant emission of sulfur dioxide and particulate ash by an additional 50 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 30 percent and retain more than

90 percent of mercury, said Jim McNicol, San Juan Generating

Station plant manager Tuesday.

PNM executives described Tuesday's public event as a celebration of the projects and took the opportunity to honor the power plant's 370 employees with lunch.

The complex renovations required operators to temporarily stop power generation while new systems were installed, requiring complicated organization, hundreds of additional contract employees and 2 million

hours of labor, McNicol said.

"Working a project of this size safely is a tremendous challenge," McNicol said. "To have the results we had is really applaudable."

No serious injuries occurred during the project and just three minor accidents caused lost work time, according to a PNM corporate spokesman.

Farmington Mayor Bill Standley commended the upgrades and the power plant's daily operations, noting an American Lung Association study ranking Farmington's air quality among the nation's 10 best.

"Some say the power plants are causing the pollution," Standley said. "They just haven't been exposed to the operation that you have here (even) before you did the upgrades."

The Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization that backed the lawsuit against San Juan Generating Station, praised the project completion, but said the improvements only were made because a lawsuit was filed.

"It's a good news story in that what they put in place is clearly going to make the air cleaner," said Rob Smith, director of the Sierra Club Southwest region. "... They did it all under duress. If we hadn't brought a lawsuit, they wouldn't be doing it."

But Smith noted some improvements, such as mercury protections, went beyond what PNM was required to improve through the court action.

"They were cleaning up more than we were challenging them on," Smith said. "I think they saw the opportunity."

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