Bonanza power plant near Vernal asks to keep burning coal with new pollution controls [Video]

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The nonprofit cooperative that supplies power to most of rural Utah has asked state regulators to let it update the Bonanza Power Plant near Vernal so it can continue to burn coal for at least another decade.

Deseret Power, the nonprofit cooperative that owns Bonanza, filed paperwork asking the Utah Public Service Commission to let it add selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to the 500-megawatt power plant so it can continue to operate past 2030. Bonanza provides power to rural electric cooperatives in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado.

The plant operates under a settlement agreement reached back in 2015. Two environmental groups – Wild Earth Guardians and the Sierra Club– challenged the plant’s air quality permit issued by the EPA. The resulting settlement …