PacifiCorp seeks tax breaks to mitigate cost of plant cleanup.

PacifiCorp says it can slash pollutants from a dirty coal-fired power plant in central Washington, if it wins up to $80 million in tax breaks.

In a compromise announced jointly this week with state and federal authorities, PacifiCorp proposed around $260 million worth of pollution controls at the Centralia Power Plant. The controls would cut sulfur-dioxide emissions 90 percent in 10 years, curbing a prime source of smog that obscures Mount Rainier and sheds acid rain over the Northwest.

PacifiCorp, a Portland-based utility company, said the deal will protect 670 jobs and allow continued use of a huge power plant and adjacent coal supply.

But Northwest Environmental Advocates, which filed an August lawsuit over the …