DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704250645

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   54 lines

STUDY BLAMES SOUTH, MIDWEST FOR POLLUTION IN NORTHEAST VIRGINIA POWER WAS CITED AS A UTILITY THAT CONTRIBUTES TO A NATIONAL PROBLEM.

Millions of tons of smog-causing pollution are spewing from coal-burning electric power plants and fouling air hundreds of miles away in cities from Atlanta to Boston, concludes a study by an environmental group and a Northeast utility.

Authors of the report urged Congress to order tougher pollution controls on coal plants in the Midwest and South, arguing that is the only way to tackle the problem of pollution that flows across state lines for long distances.

The report listed Virginia Power as one of the top 50 energy producers in the East. It also took aim at two of the big utility's power plants for excessive air pollution - at Mount Storm, in West Virginia, and at Possum Point, near the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Northern Virginia.

Bill Byrd, a Virginia Power spokesman, said that while the statistics quoted in the report are accurate, the authors did not calculate recent environmental improvements planned or installed at both Mount Storm and Possum Point.

At Mount Storm, for example, smokestack scrubbers were installed in 1995 that cut sulfur dioxide emissions by about 45,000 tons a year - nearly a 50 percent reduction, Byrd said.

Virginia Power also changed its coal-burning technique to lower nitrogen oxide emissions at Possum Point and at a plant in Chesapeake, he said. The move in Chesapeake helped Hampton Roads reduce enough smog to petition the federal government for relief from tough environmental restrictions on local business and industry.

``The report doesn't take into account our improvements, and I think credit should be given where credit's due,'' Byrd said.

The study released Thursday found that the 50 largest electric power companies in the eastern half of the country accounted for nearly 4.5 million tons of smog-causing nitrogen oxide a year, with almost a third coming from the three largest power producers.

More than 80 percent of nitrogen oxide releases are from plants in areas that meet current federal air standards, the study found. Critics argue, however, that the pollution that travels hundreds of miles makes it harder for other areas to improve their air.

Together, the Atlanta-based Southern Company, the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority and the Ohio-based American Electric Power Company accounted for nearly 1.35 million tons of nitrogen oxide emissions in 1995, the study found.

The analysis of power plant emissions in 37 states from Maine to Texas and the Dakotas was released by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Public Service Electric and Gas Co. of New Jersey, in conjunction with Pace University. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and

staff writer Scott Harper. KEYWORDS: AIR POLLUTION

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