Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland General Electric has called the latest proposal from Oregon regulators to close the Boardman plant 'disappointing.' Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The coal-fired Boardman power plant is big source of pollution. PGE has offered to close it by 2020, installing $40 million of pollution control.

But the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has blocked that plan and come up with three other options.

PGE spokesman, Steve Corson, says those options reflect an extreme interpretation of federal rules.

Steve Corson: "We still believe that the plan that we put forward for the Boardman Plant reached a good balance between the costs, the risks and the environmental benefits. So yes, we're disappointed that DEQ chose not to allow that plan to continue."

The first DEQ option sticks with the $40 million PGE has proposed spending, but shuts the plant five years earlier.

The second option keeps PGE's 2020 shutdown date, but would cost $320 million.

The third option splits the difference, shutting the plant in 2018 and requiring PGE to spend $100 million.

Negotiations continue.