Glad we saw this coming…

Duke Power wants an exemption from a state air pollution rule as part of its plan to enlarge its Cliffside power plant in western North Carolina.
Officials with the power company, which services much of the state’s central and western regions, are asking state lawmakers for a pollution swap: Apply credit for reductions in air pollution gained by a scrubber it’s installing at an existing Cliffside unit to offset new emissions from two proposed coal-burning units at the same site.
The trade-off would help the utility avoid a broader review by the U.S. Department of Interior, which operates national parks and wilderness areas and could call for stricter pollution controls on the new units to prevent haze. Duke’s Cliffside plant, which is on the border of Cleveland and Rutherford counties, is within range of the Linville Gorge wilderness area and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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