DTE agrees to retrofit or convert five coal plants under settlement with US EPA

New York — DTE Energy has agreed to install pollution controls or convert to natural gas five coal-fired units in southeastern Michigan under a court settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency aimed at resolving nearly a decade of litigation.

The EPA sued DTE in August 2010 for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program by modifying its Monroe power plant in Monroe County, Michigan, without also installing modern pollution controls. DTE claimed the $65 million renovation project for the 3,086-MW facility was "routine maintenance" and therefore exempt from the program, but the EPA contended that modifications caused the generator to emit illegal levels of harmful pollutants.

The EPA later filed an amended complaint in 2014 alleging similar New Source Review violations at DTE's Belle River and Trenton Channel plants.

After a years-long back-and-forth battle between the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the 6th Circuit ruled for the EPA in 2017 and the US Supreme Court declined to review the decision.

EPA and DTE filed a consent decree on May 14 with the district court, under which DTE agreed to install pollution controls or convert to natural gas all coal-fired units at its Belle River, River Rouge, St. Clair and Trenton Channel generating stations. Under the agreement, DTE must also meet enforceable emission limits for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide at the Monroe facility.

The EPA said in a news release that the agreement will reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions at the affected facilities by an estimated 138,000 st/year relative to their 2010 emission levels. The agreement also calls for DTE to pay a $1.8 million civil fine and spend at least $5.5 million on a bus-replacement project to help improve the region's air quality.

"This settlement will improve air quality in southeast Michigan to help protect people's health and the environment," EPA Region 5 Administrator Kurt Thiede said the statement. "The company agreed to carry out a bus replacement project under the settlement that will go even further to make the air cleaner in the area."

Meanwhile, Michigan regulators in February instructed DTE to revise a proposed integrated resource plan for the 2020-2024 time frame and included four alternative proposals for 2025 and beyond. Under the plan, DTE had proposed to retire its River Rouge, St Clair, and Trenton Channel facilities by 2022. It was also expected to shutter its Belle River facility by 2030 and the Monroe facility by 2040

The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment and court approval. The district court case is United States v. DTE Energy (No. 2:10-cv-13101-BAF-RSW).