Tucson Electric Power announced Thursday it had ended the use of coal at its largest local power plant. The utility company will now primarily rely on natural gas, a press release says.

Per requests from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TEP had until December 2017 to make the move, so they’re proud to be two years ahead of schedule. They hope the transition will help Pima County comply with stricter ozone standards, which are taking effect later this year. In 2013, the EPA found the plant to be out of compliance with the Clean Air Act, and recommended TEP install industry-standard pollution controls, according to the Sierra Club. In early 2014, TEP and the EPA “agreed on a plan to switch the plant’s fuel source from coal to gas by the end of 2017, a move that would result in lower costs for TEP and less air pollution than the EPA’s recommended plan,” the Sierra Club says in a press release.

Also, reduction of carbon dioxide emissions at the power plant comply with the new Clean Power Plan rules, set to begin early into 2022. (The Clean Power Plan proposes cutting carbon emissions nationally by one-third. Arizona has to cut emissions by about one-half through 2030.)

“Eliminating the local use of coal is an important part of our plan to build a cleaner, more diverse energy portfolio,” said a statement by David G. Hutchens, TEP’s president and CEO. 

Here’s some backgrounds provided by TEP:

The Sundt power plant has been a focus of changing federal energy and environmental policy. In July 1982, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered that all four units at the natural gas-fired plant be converted to burn coal pursuant to the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978, which sought to preserve domestic supplies of natural gas during the energy crisis. That law was repealed in 1987, though, and the DOE later rescinded its order after TEP had completed the conversion of Unit 4.

When natural gas prices were higher, TEP chose coal to reduce the cost passed down to customers. “While Unit 4 will lose that flexibility, it can produce 30 percent more power when fueled by natural gas,” the company says. 

From TEP:

TEP’s Integrated Resource Plan calls for cutting the company’s coal-fired generating capacity by more than 30 percent and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent over five years. TEP is increasing its use of natural gas and relying more heavily on its expanding renewable energy portfolio, which now includes more than 400 megawatts of solar, wind and other resources — enough to meet the annual electric needs of more than 84,000 homes.

Dan Millis of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Arizona Chapter says this is a win for public health.

“…It will lessen our community’s impact on climate change,” he says in a statement. “It also will help the air quality at our national parks and wilderness areas. However, Tucsonans want clean, renewable, locally-generated power from solar and wind, not a utility that is 91 percent fossil fuels. We would like to see TEP take the next step to becoming a clean energy utility.” 

Sundt is one of five coal power plants under TEP. Several groups, including the Sierra Club, have demanded TEP to divert from one in New Mexico, the San Juan Generating Station. The company’s involvement with San Juan fueled a protest recently, where the chant was “Sol Not Coal.” 

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2015.

I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I moved to Tucson about 10 years ago. Since I was old enough to enjoy reading, I developed an interest in writing, and telling stories through different...

15 replies on “UPDATED: TEP Says Farewell to Coal at Largest Local Power Plant to Primarily Rely on Natural Gas”

  1. According to the Sierra club we can expect temperatures to drop. We will need to run our heat sooner and longer. Gains will be zeroed out once again.

    But do expect utilities and taxes to increase because it’s your fault.

  3. Get ready for the rate increases, using less always costs more. The tax on natural gas will be higher than on coal.

  4. Are you really this stupid? You have been too busy attacking trump to listen to what he is saying. We are sitting on the largest supply of coal we have ever had. They did not contribute to Obama because of his faith in lowering world temperatures. So he threatened to shut them down…which tep is helping him accomplish.

    So tep was it cash, tax credits, easing of epa regulations or all of the above?

    Insiders say current admin stole $500M in the Solyndra collapse. What are they buying with our money?

    Don’t forget to send more cash to lower temps faster you fools.

  5. This is such good news for Tucson! I am more than happy to pay higher rates for cleaner air and better health.

  7. And exactly how does switching from coal to natural gas have any impact what so ever on emissions?…. Energy is energy, they’re going to have to generate the same amount of BTU’s burning natural gas as they did burning coal, so what’s the difference? It’s roughly 30,000 cubic feet of natural gas to generate the BTU equivalency for one ton of coal….. Switching from one type of fuel to another does nothing, all that changes is the energy density. You have to burn a much higher volume of natural gas to produce the same energy you would produce from a much smaller volume of coal, but like usual, these stupid a$$ libtards never think anything through, or bother getting all their facts straight before jumping to half a$$ed conclusions.

  9. Good for TEP. In answer to angry comment above:

    Coal (anthracite) produces 228 pounds of CO2 per BTU
    Natural gas only 117 pounds per BTU.
    So they’ve cut CO2 production roughly 50%.

    That’s great news. We may be a little late to the game, thanks to industry PR machine duping people, but we still have time to head off the worst effects of global warming. Our children will thank us.

  10. New accounts from climate scientists claim we may be entering a mini ice age. This is just going to make it worse.

  11. Thank you, Bslap, for adding a little logic to LogicNazi’s thought processes. Sundt has no sulfur dioxide pollution controls. Zero. It will produce approximately 1,000 times less sulfur dioxide on gas than on coal, according to the Pima County air quality experts. That’s a lot less toxic gas in our air. More energy, less fuel, and TEP says current low gas prices mean it’s cheaper, too. Those facts straight enough for you, LogicNazi?

  12. I see issues with reliability. Remember 5 years ago when we had the freeze. Some areas in town lost gas service with the demand. Expect to pay more… Last winter the prices spiked and went down to normal in April. I cut 30 percent of my consumption last winter paid more and a house full complaining about a cold house. Would not be surprised of an equivalent increase in power bills.

  13. Dan Millis, I guess you never heard of “scrubbers”….. Also “current” gas prices are just that, “current”…. Who’s to say that these prices won’t sky rocket in the future as everyone else converts to natural gas, driving up the demand?…. All this environmentalism B.S is nothing but a big scam to make someone rich. And where is all this pollution all you environazis are complaining about? Air seems pretty fresh to me.

  14. Don’t look now but George Soros is investing in coal. After all his paid protesters eliminated it and drove down values, he is buying it.

    Where are the anti Wall St wackos? It’s time to go after him.

  15. In August Soros indeed invested $2M in two struggling
    coal companies. Out of the over $20B net worth, that makes for less than 1/10,000 or .01 percent of his net worth.

    Meanwhile the IPCC has warned that methane is 135 times move damaging for our climate than CO2. Fracking sites in the US, as seen from satellites, are leaking gas like a sieve into the atmosphere (as well as into the groundwater).

    Thank god that we will soon have President Hillary who has promoted fracking all over the World as the Head of the State Department.

    http://motherjones.com/environment/2014/09…

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