Colorado Springs Utilities might have violated state clean-air laws when emissions-monitoring equipment at Nixon Power Plant failed accuracy tests, calling into question two years of emissions data.Utilities officials say the state is wrong and that the city’s calculations are accurate.”We believe we did pass the test,” said Mike Brady, Utilities environmental technical services supervisor. “We do have good data.”The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division issued a compliance advisory March 5 for Nixon’s gas turbines located 20 miles south of the city.The department could levy penalties of up to $15,000 per day per violation.Though Nixon operated for more than a decade without violations, the compliance advisory is the second in recent years.In late 2005, the state accused Utilities of exceeding emissions levels at Nixon in June 2004 and of failing to have a routine maintenance program there. Regulators also alleged emissions levels at the gas-fired plant exceeded limits for six hours during 2004’s second quarter and that equipment was installed without regulatory approval.That case was resolved in May 2006 when Utilities paid an $8,750 penalty.The latest compliance advisory alleges Nixon’s continuous emissions monitors failed an accuracy test. The system measures nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide.Tests showed that nitrogen oxide measurements deviated from the standards in tests done in April 2006 and June 2007.”The data from the monitor was not able to be used in calculating emission compliance nor be counted toward meeting minimum data availability,” state regulators said. “Therefore, the emission totals maintained by the facility from April 2006 to date are inaccurate” and in violation of state law.State Health Department spokesman Christopher Dann said the compliance action doesn’t accuse Utilities of emitting at an illegally high level but rather its equipment failed an accuracy test.”In a sense, that data is unrecoverable,” he said. “We assume a worst-case scenario – that all totals back to 2006 are wrong.”He said the state identified what it believes are incorrect calculations when reviewing 2007 data. “Based on that and subsequent conversations with the utility, it was apparent the error existed back to 2006,” Dann said.Asked how serious the alleged lapse is, Dann said, “I’d be reluctant to make a value judgment other than to say we take all noncompliance situations seriously.”Dave Padgett, Utilities manager of environmental services, downplayed the state action.”On a scale of one to 10, I think it’s a one,” he said. “It’s a methodology issue.”Brady said it boils down to a dispute over which calculation method is right. “We had calculated a relative accuracy one way and showed that we were in compliance,” he said. “The state calculated it a different way and came to a different conclusion.”The city has until Friday to contact the state for a meeting to discuss the alleged violations of the Colorado Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act. The City Council, meeting as the Utilities Board, will consider “an air quality matter” in closed session Wednesday.

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