Shutdown starts for coal-fired plant serving US southwest
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The first of two units to be shut down at a coal-fired power plant that has been serving customers throughout the American Southwest for decades is no longer in operation, officials with New Mexico's largest utility said Tuesday.
Unit 3 at the San Juan Generating Station was turned off just after midnight and another unit at the four-unit plant will be turned off this weekend as Public Service Co. of New Mexico works to meet a federally mandated deadline for the closure.
The partial shutdown is part of an agreement with state and federal regulators and other stakeholders to reduce haze-causing pollution in the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet.