Westar Energy Inc. (WR) agreed to install a pollution-control
system at a coal-fired power plant and pay a $3 million penalty to
settle an environmental lawsuit filed by the Justice
Department.
The company's general counsel, Larry Irick, said Westar obeyed
all environmental laws and regulations but chose to settle because
it meant money would go to cleaning up the environment rather than
to litigation.
"Investments will really do something for the environment, but
protracted litigation won't accomplish any environmental benefit no
matter how the case turns out," he said.
In addition to the civil penalty and a commitment to $6 million
in environment-mitigation investments over six years, Westar said
it would install a selective catalytic reduction system on one of
the three coal units at its Jeffrey Energy Center in Kansas by the
end of 2014. It may install another in the following two years,
depending on the success of the first. The systems reduce
nitrogen-oxide emissions.
The company also said the planned installation of new
low-nitrogen oxide burners and electrostatic precipitators, which
reduce ash, will go forward as planned.
President and Chief Executive Bill Moore noted that in the past
several years, Westar has spent invested several hundred million
dollars "to improve the environmental performance of our coal
plants."
In its suit filed almost a year ago, the U.S. Department of
Justice said Westar violated federal air quality laws by failing to
update the plant's pollution-control equipment when it made major
modifications there over the past decade. The DoJ claimed the
pollution upgrades are required whenever a utility makes large
changes to a power plant. Westar at the time defended itself as
"good environmental stewards," saying it had invested almost $500
million in recent years to cut emissions.
Westar shares were up 0.5% at $21.66 in recent trading.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com