CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Midwest Generation said today that its fleet of Illinois power plants is well-positioned to comply with two sets of new environmental regulations developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) -- the Hazardous Air Pollutants rule, which was released yesterday and will take effect in 2015, and the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, which is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2012.
Midwest Generation was established in Illinois upon acquiring six coal-fired power plants in the state in 1999. It is a subsidiary of Edison Mission Group (EMG), which manages the competitive power generation business of Edison International (NYSE: EIX).
The company has invested continuously in additional pollution controls at its plants. Over the past several weeks, it has completed the installation of Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction systems to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which can contribute to the formation of smog. These new controls will enable Midwest Generation to comply with both State of Illinois and USEPA limits for NOx which are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2012.
As a result of this work, Midwest Generation will have reduced NOx emissions by 80 percent since 1999.
The company also has reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which can contribute to acid rain, by nearly 40 percent since 1999, and is set to meet new USEPA limits on those emissions that are scheduled to take effect in January of 2012.
Both state and federal regulations will require additional SO2 emission reductions over the next several years. As previously announced, the company will make case-by-case decisions on whether to meet those limits by making additional retrofits or by retiring certain power generating units.
Midwest Generation also has been among the industry's leaders in developing and installing mercury emission controls at its plants dating back to 2008-09. Nearly all of the company's generating units are now reducing mercury emissions by more than 90 percent and already comply with the USEPA's first-ever regulation of mercury emissions from power plants which take effect in three years.
Midwest Generation operates the Fisk and Crawford stations in Chicago, Waukegan Station, Joliet Station, Will County Station in Romeoville, and Powerton Station in Pekin. The company has approximately 1,100 employees, about 70 percent of whom are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Midwest Generation is a subsidiary of Edison Mission Group (EMG) of Santa Ana, Calif., which manages the competitive power generation businesses of Edison International (NYSE: EIX). Based in Rosemead, Calif., Edison International is a generator and distributor of electric power and an investor in infrastructure and energy assets, including renewable energy. Edison International also is the parent company of Southern California Edison, the largest electric utility in California.