ALLENTOWN, Pa.---PPL Corp. today (6/22) announced the completion of new air quality equipment on Unit 2 of its Montour plant that will reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The new equipment was revealed to the public for the first time this morning during a brief ceremony attended by local legislators, community members and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Construction of a new selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, along with other new equipment, began in August, 1999 at the company's two coal-fired generating units located near Washingtonville, Montour County, in north central Pennsylvania. Crews built the clean-air components on site using large, 400-foot cranes and heavy scaffolds. The new SCR will remove about 90 percent of the plant's nitrogen oxide emissions.

Since 1990, PPL has committed about $380 million to air quality equipment. The SCR project at Montour allows the company to make additional NOx reductions well ahead of the 2003 NOx reduction target set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

"PPL is proud to be in a leadership position on this important environmental issue," said Dennis Murphy, vice president Power Production and Engineering for PPL Corp. "This major investment in emission control equipment reinforces the still vital process of generating power from coal."

Murphy said investments of this kind help reduce the airborne transport of NOx, which is a contributor to ozone in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

"Since 1990, PPL has been taking actions to reduce most kinds of power plant emissions, including nitrogen oxide," said Murphy.

Nitrogen oxide 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, PPL also installed new electrostatic precipitators to replace the original precipitators on the unit. Similar equipment was installed several years ago at PPL's coal-fueled Brunner Island plant in York County, Pennsylvania.

Montour's new precipitators are expected to remove most of the coal ash before it reaches the plant's stacks and the atmosphere. Coal ash, like nitrogen oxide, is a by-product of the coal burning process.

Ninety-five percent of the coal ash produced at the Montour plant is re-used in construction material, anti-skid material for roads and material for mine reclamation.

DB Riley of Worcester, Mass. designed and supplied Montour's new SCR system. Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pa. designed and built the electrostatic precipitator.