State says it plans to issue air quality permit to Tenaska power plant

State regulators say they will issue an air quality permit to the natural gas-fired power plant in South Huntingdon, despite objections from environmental organizations that say issues should be fixed before the permit is approved.

The Department of Environmental Protection has stated it will issue a Title V air quality operating permit to Tenaska Inc., which operates the 925-megawatt power plant near Smithton. The agency has been reviewing the permit application since Tenaska Pennsylvania Partners LLC applied for it in July 2024, said Laina Aquiline, a spokeswoman for the DEP in Pittsburgh.

Environmental organizations that oppose the DEP’s intention to grant the permit have asked the department to hold a public hearing on the issue.

The DEP has not made a final decision on whether to hold a public hearing on the permit but will decide based on the substance of comments received during the comment period that ended last week, Aquiline said.

In a 25-page joint letter Nov. 3 to the DEP, the Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, D.C., and the Mountain Watershed Association, an environmental group in Melcroft, contended the DEP should hold a public hearing because of sufficient interest in the plant and its emissions as a large pollution source.

The draft permit “contains many substantive deficiencies that must be fixed before the permit is issued,” including failing to require adequate monitoring to assure compliance with pollution limits for several pollutants from multiple sources at the plant, the environmental groups stated. Those pollutants include volatile organic compounds, sulfuric acid mist and sulfur oxide from plant sources.

The company’s draft permit also should require testing of the smokestacks at least annually for seven pollutants, the Environmental Integrity Project and Mountain Watershed contended. The natural gas power plant is a major source of emissions for nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, according to the environmental groups.

Tenaska spokeswoman Leighton Elise Eusebio could not be reached for comment.

Tenaska has been operating the plant since December 2018 under state approval, which is a normal process in air quality permitting, Aquiline said. That allowed Tenaska to construct the plant, begin producing power and complete a shakedown period, Aquiline said. That permit is extended as necessary in accordance with the regulations, but once that process is complete, the plant owner must apply for a permit to continue to operate, Aquiline said.