Nearly 300 people crowded a public hearing to stand in opposition to an operating permit for a power plant proposed in West Bountiful.
Opponents included state legislators, county and city officials and dozens of residents who lined up to tell the Utah Division of Air Quality to deny the permit
Consolidated Energy Systems wants to build a 109-megawatt plant at 400 S. 1100 West, just west of the Holly Oil Woods Cross Refinery.
The plant is designed to run on residual oil and petroleum coke, two cheap but dirty fuels that are byproducts of the refining process.
The facility would be permitted to emit just under 100 tons each of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide a year.
The permit would also allow 60.9 tons of particulate matter 10 microns in size (PM 10), 49 tons of volatile organic compounds and under 10 tons of combined hazardous air pollutants to be emitted each year.
All of those limits are well below national ambient air quality standards, said Regg Olsen, air quality division permitting manager.
The Wasatch Front is already heavily polluted with particulate matter 2.5 microns in size (PM 2.5) and with ozone, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Consolidated's plant, however, isn't expected to generate significant amounts of those two pollutants.
Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, whose district includes West Bountiful, said he attended the meeting to speak for himself and his constituents, a few dozen of whom have been contacting him since last week.
A cogeneration facility of this type does not belong in the heart of residential neighborhoods, he said. "We just feel this is the wrong source of power generation in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, said the power plant is neither the right thing nor the smart thing for residents.
Delane McGarvey, Davis County Health Department associate director, presented a resolution from the Davis County Board of Health opposing the permit.
The resolution states that if permitted, the proposed plant's authorized nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions would nullify 60 percent of the reduction in NOx and 14 percent of the reduction in volatile organic compound emissions achieved by the county's vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
It would also undo 22 percent of the Wasatch Front Regional Council Transportation Plan's goal of reducing NOx emissions by 456 tons per year by 2030, the resolution states.
McGarvey also urged the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to impose a moratorium on any new permits "until state and local agencies develop a compliance plan that will ensure healthy air for our citizens."
Woods Cross city manager Gary Uresk said his city council urged him to oppose the permit, and he asked that all of those involved — regulators, cities and the corporations — to discuss what would be best for area residents.
Residents called the permit deficient, showed off children who suffer from asthma and pleaded with the division to deny the permit.
Clarke Hilbig, a gastroenterologist from Bountiful, said he and other residents are willing to do more than just come to a public hearing.
"We'll take this to the Legislature. We'll change the laws. We'll change the regulations," Hilbig said. "We know better. We can do better. We must do better."
DEQ will take public comments on the permit through Thursday.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com