News Release

Sept. 23, 2002

San Juan Generating Station Receives Green Zia Award

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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT Susan Sponar Telephone: (505) 241-2768

Waterflow: San Juan Generating Station (SJGS), a coal-fired generating station in northwest New Mexico operated by PNM, will soon be recognized by the New Mexico Environmental Department for its commitment to pollution prevention and environmental management.

The Green Zia Environmental Excellence Program is a voluntary state program that encourages New Mexico organizations to consider environmental performance as a core business practice. The program encourages business and environmental integration through a pollution prevention-based environmental management system.

Green Zia will recognize SJGS at the commitment level, which is awarded to an organization that has made a strong commitment to pollution prevention and/or effective energy management. It requires development of a framework for a pollution prevention-based environmental management system. SJGS will receive a Green Zia Commitment Certificate signed by the organization's senior manager and the Governor commemorating this achievement on Sept. 25 during a ceremony in Santa Fe.

"This award exemplifies SJGS's continual commitment to and success with its environmental practices," said Russell Huffman, SJGS’s plant manager. "We are constantly improving our system and are already working toward the Green Zia's excellence level."

SJGS now has received "Triple Crown" — state, national and international — recognition for its environmental management practices. It is believed that SJGS is the only coal-fired station to be so recognized. In 2000, an independent auditor certified that the SJGS environmental management system to be in accordance with ISO 14001 (International Organization for Standardization) requirements. That same year, SJGS was one of two coal-fired plants to be recognized nationwide as a charter member of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Performance Track.

The plant’s performance includes:

• SJGS meets or exceeds all state and federal environmental regulations established by the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
• The plant's limestone sulfur dioxide removal system, online since mid-1998, has continually increased sulfur dioxide removal rates at SJGS.
• The removal rate already has increased to 83.3 percent for the first half of 2002, up from 78.6 percent in 2001. This is above the permitted level of about 72 percent. The pollution-control equipment also removes more than 99 percent of the fly-ash particulate from stack emissions.
• In 2001, 92.4 percent of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals were managed on site and did not leave SJGS or the mine property.
• Because of increased scrubbing (treatment of flue gas) and the use of better quality coal, the total release for SJGS's stack, fugitive and land releases, including the transfer of chemicals to San Juan Coal Company, decreased by more than 6 percent when comparing the 2001 TRI report with 2000's report.

SJGS is a 1,798-megawatt coal-fired power plant. It is PNM's primary generation source, providing 58 percent of the power needed by PNM customers. PNM operates the plant on behalf of the company and eight other owners. In addition to its commitment to reduce air emissions, SJGS is a zero-discharge facility, collecting and reusing all water used in the generating process.

Learn more about San Juan Generating Station
Learn more about PNM's environmental initiatives

PNM is a combined electric and gas utility serving about 1.3 million people in New Mexico. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of PNM Resources, also sells power on the wholesale market in the Western U.S. PNM Resources stock is traded primarily on the NYSE under the symbol PNM.