A coal-fired power plant operator in Center potentially faces enormous financial penalties for violating the Clean Air Act, according to a notice filed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The notice filed June 17 in the EPA's Denver region office claims that Minnkota Power Cooperative, operator of the Milton R. Young Stations I and II, is releasing "massive amounts" of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into the environment.

The EPA says Minnkota failed to apply for New Source Review permits when it added superheaters to both plant boilers in 1995 and 1997.

Minnkota did the work on the boilers without either applying for the permit, or documenting pollution emissions for the following five years as required, the EPA said.

John Graves, Minnkota's environmental manager, said the company did not need the permit.

He said the superheaters were essentially replacement parts and fell under the category of routine maintenance, which is exempt from the permit requirement.

More importantly, the superheaters did not lead to a significant increase in pollution, Graves said.

Since a standard of significant deterioration is another trigger for an NSR permit, the company is exempt under both criteria, Graves said.

Graves said Minnkota is working to schedule a meeting with EPA officials.

Mike Risner, director of legal enforcement for the EPA, said the meeting will give Minnkota an opportunity to clarify its position.

Risner said the boiler work was too extensive to be classified as maintenance.

In the violation notice, the EPA said Minnkota is undertaking a series of modifications to extend the life of the plant and increase its power output.

When plants apply for NSR permits, they have to agree to use equipment designed to achieve the lowest pollution rate.

The EPA claims Minnkota did not install that level of equipment.

"Until these violations are corrected, Minnkota will continue to release massive amounts of illegal sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the environment," the EPA said.

Under terms of the notice, the plant operator faces penalties of $25,000 a day dating back at least to 1995.

Graves said Minnkota was fined for pollution violations in the 1980s.

Gwen Thompson, a member of the Dakota Resource Council, an environmental watchdog group, said the organization applauds the EPA.

She said DRC is concerned that the Bush administration's plans to change some NSR requirements will let undermine the EPA's case against Minnkota and other "dirty power plants."

The EPA found the alleged violations as part of a state-by-state review of power plants.

Graves said he doesn't characterize the EPA's look at Minnkota - which started with a request for documents back in October 2000 - as a fishing expedition, since it has the authority to request such information from companies.

"The EPA has indicated it will send out an average of two queries per state and it has done so," Graves said.