Operators of an electricity plant near the outskirts of Eugene are asking regulators for permission to increase the level of pollution it is generating.
Seneca Sustainable Energy is a 2.5-year-old wood-fired electricity plant.
Its CEO tells the Register Guard newspaper that the plant is “the cleanest in the nation,” and is just trying to work through regulatory issues.
Environmentalists call Seneca’s request for increased pollution limits a broken promise.
Seneca wants to increase its emissions of particulate matter from 14 tons a year to 17 tons a year.
To do so, the company has to show regulators that it’s using filters, cyclones and other pollution controls for the lowest achievable emission rate.