While the Hermiston project would put out 1.7 million tons/year of CO2, the other emissions of major concern carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, and particular matter are relatively small. This is true because the primary fuel, natural gas, is extremely clean, and the backup fuel, #2 distillate fuel oil, is expected to be seldom used.
The emission inventory in the Application lists the following projected emissions:
| Carbon Monoxide | 757 |
| Oxides of Nitrogen | 744 |
| Volatile Organic Compounds | 39.7 |
| Particulate Matter | 95.7 |
Each of these is less than the amount of these pollutants emitted by one thousand diesel trucks operating 30,000 miles/year. There are more than one hundred thousand diesel trucks in Oregon, nearly two million automobiles, thousands of pieces of farm equipment, and numerous stationary sources of these types of pollutants. Therefore the project represents a small fraction of one percent increase in these pollutants in Oregon. By comparison, the CO2 emissions from the project equal about 12% of the CO2 emissions from motor vehicles in Oregon.
Because the nonCO2 emissions are so small, we consider the real challenge of the project to be mitigation of CO2. Almost any combination of strategies to mitigate CO2 which includes a transportation component will also mitigate the nonCO2 air pollution caused by the project.