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CONCLUSIONS <br />1. In 1916, a private power company, Elk River Power and Light Company, began <br />serving Elk River consumers. The village of Elk River purchased the company, <br />and Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) began serving Elk River in 1947. <br />2. Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) currently owns four diesel engine electrical <br />generating units, all installed in the municipal power plant. <br />3. In the past, ERMU generated much of its electrical requirements using <br />hydroelectric capacity (since removed) and the diesel units. <br />4. The diesels are now relegated to standby service. ERMU obtains essentially all <br />its electrical requirements from the landfill gas-to-electric plant, and wholesale <br />from Great River Energy (GRE). <br />5. Although the diesels do not run much, they are valuable to ERMU. The diesels <br />allow ERMU to carry critical ERMU loads during outages on the interconnection, <br />and the diesels allow ERMU to receive capacity credits on wholesale power <br />purchases. <br />6. ERMU runs the diesels under an Operating Permit from the Minnesota Pollution <br />Control Agency. <br />7. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formulated new Emissions <br />Regulations for stationary diesel engine electrical generating units, such as those <br />owned by ERMU. These standards are National Emissions Standards for <br />Hazardous Air Pollutants for Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines <br />(NESHAP-RICE). <br />8. Although the NESHAP-RICE standards have been formulated, they are currently <br />being reconsidered in response to public comments. <br />It is anticipated that new Emissions Standards will be finalized perhaps within <br />the next year. However, it is not known if the allowable hours of operation for <br />Emergency Units will be increased. <br />16 <br />