ALLENTOWN, Pa.---PP&L, Inc. today (8/31) announced its latest major investment in state-of-the-art air-quality equipment at its coal-fueled power plants.

PP&L's investment in new air-quality equipment at the Montour plant, near Washingtonville, Montour County, in north central Pennsylvania, moves the company ahead of the accelerated pace it had already set for making reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions, required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and proposed by Pennsylvania under the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.

Since a major amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1990, PP&L, Inc. has committed about $380 million in air-quality equipment, including the latest plans for the Montour plant. Construction of a new selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, along with other new equipment, will begin in November at the company's two coal-fueled, electricity-generating units at the Montour plant. Plans call for the SCRs at the Montour plant to be in service by May 2000 on Unit 2 and by May 2001 on Unit 1. The combined net capacity of these two units is about 1,500 megawatts, representing about 40 percent of PP&L, Inc.'s coal-fired electricity-generating capacity in Pennsylvania.

"PP&L is proud to be in a leadership position on this important environmental issue," said William F. Hecht, chairman, president and chief executive officer of PP&L Resources, Inc. "These major investments in air-pollution controls reinforce the still vital process of generating power from coal."

Hecht said investments of this kind help to reduce ozone and the airborne transport of ozone-causing emissions to other parts of Pennsylvania and to surrounding states such as New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

"Since 1990, PP&L has been taking actions that have reduced most kinds of power plant emissions, including nitrogen oxide," said Hecht.

The SCR system at the Montour plant is designed to remove about 90 percent of the nitrogen oxide leaving the boiler, where coal is burned to produce steam, which in turn drives huge turbines to generate electricity.

Nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-fueled power plants can interact with tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles and sunlight on hot summer days to produce ground level ozone -- a major component of smog that can affect breathing.

In addition to the new SCRs, PP&L is installing two new electrostatic precipitators to replace the original precipitators on units 1 and 2 at the Montour plant, built in the early 1970s. Equipment similar to these new precipitators was installed several years ago at PP&L's coal-fueled Brunner Island plant in York County, Pa.

The precipitators, scheduled for installation by May 2000 on Unit 2 and May 2001 on Unit 1, are expected to remove almost all of the coal ash that leaves in the gas stream from the Montour plant's boiler before being released into the atmosphere. Coal ash, like nitrogen oxide, is a byproduct of the coal burning process.

More than 90 percent of the coal ash produced at the Montour plant is beneficially reused, according to Gregory L. Smith, superintendent of the Montour plant. Smith said examples of reuse are construction material, anti-skid material for roads and material for mine reclamation.

Smith said the new equipment at the Montour plant will help keep PP&L at the forefront of the electricity industry's compliance with the latest restrictions on nitrogen oxide emissions required by the EPA and proposed by Pennsylvania for 2003.

According to Smith, the company installed equipment at its coal-fueled power plants in 1995 to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by about 50 percent from 1990 levels. He said PP&L has plans to reduce these emissions by about another 10 percent by the end of 1999, even before the additional reductions that will be made by the new SCR equipment at the two Montour units in 2000 and 2001.

"We work very hard to balance our environmental responsibility with our obligation to our shareowners and customers to generate power in a cost-effective and reliable manner," said Hecht. Hecht added that Pennsylvania currently relies on coal for nearly 60 percent of its electricity needs.

PP&L currently operates four coal power plants, all in Pennsylvania. They are: the Montour plant; the Brunner Island plant; the Martins Creek plant, Northampton County, which also uses oil and natural gas; and the Sunbury plant, Snyder County.

The company shut down a coal plant at Holtwood in Lancaster County in April 1999, and it is in the process of selling its Sunbury plant.

Hecht said PP&L Resources, Inc. is becoming a leading generator of electricity in the United States as consumers and businesses have more choices in selecting an electricity supplier. The company has a goal to more than double its electricity generating capacity, to 20,000 megawatts, over the next five years through a combination of construction and acquisition.

"Existing facilities that are acquired and new facilities that we develop will operate consistent with our solid compliance record and will support our environmental commitment," Hecht said.

The contract for the new SCR system at PP&L's Montour plant has been awarded to DB Riley of Worcester, Mass. The contract for the electrostatic precipitators at the Montour plant has been awarded to Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pa.