Oregon Public Broadcasting

A couple hundred people showed up to a public hearing Monday night on PGE's Boardman power plant. Many local residents said they want to keep the plant open as long as possible. 

The plant is coal-fired and a big source of pollution. PGE has offered to install $40 million of emission controls and then close it by 2020.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has blocked that plan and come up with three more expensive options.

Many residents around the plant don’t want to see it close. Gary Neal, the general manager of the Port of Morrow, was at the public hearing.

He estimates the plant generates about 1,000 local jobs.

Gary Neal: "Why not use the coal plant here as an opportunity to advance technologies for renwable energy and better emission controls for using coal for the long-term."

Negotiations between the Oregon Public Utility Commission, PGE and the Department of Environmental Quality about what to do with the plant, continue.