The state’s court of appeals will review a lower-court ruling that stopped plans for Georgia’s first coal-fired power plant in more than 20 years. The court will look at whether the state’s Enviromental Protection Division should have legal limits on carbon dioxide emissions by the plant. In June, a ruling by a Fulton County Superior Court judge sided with environmental groups opposing the project—she stated permits are invalid because they do not regulate CO2. The planned 2-billion dollar facility in southwest Georgia is a project of Houston, Texas-based Dynegy Inc. Both Dynegy and the EPD moved to appeal the decision.
Georgia business groups are appealing a judge's decision to halt the construction of a power plant, warning that the ruling could stall other energy plants and hamper economic development throughout the state.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce warned Wednesday that the decision could have far-reaching implications, driving up energy costs and preventing the construction of natural gas, oil and biofuel plants across the state.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore's ruling relied on the Supreme Court's decision last year that carbon dioxide could be regulated as a pollutant, and environmental activists said it set a precedent.
In the ruling, Moore contended that federal air pollution laws required permits for all pollutants that could be regulated under the federal Clean Air Act - including carbon dioxide. The gas, which is blamed for global warming, is not currently regulated.
The decision halted the construction of the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Plant, which would become Georgia's first new coal-fired plant in more than 20 years.
Environmental groups praised the decision, saying it will help them stave off 30 other coal plants now in active litigation. At the very least, they said, it's a sign that energy companies will face more challenging legal hurdles over coal-fired power projects.
The plant is expected to create more than 100 full-time jobs and give millions of dollars in tax revenues to Early County, where almost a quarter of the 12,000 residents live in poverty. It would power more than a half-million homes through utilities in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Each year it would emit as much as 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, worrying critics who say it could cause health problems in a county that already suffers above-average air pollution.
But the chamber contends the ruling went too far, sidestepping the efforts of federal lawmakers and regulators debating whether to regulate the gas.
The chamber claims that the ruling could delay the construction of any "sizable" new building that relies on natural gas for heat - from office buildings to malls.
"It would be devastating," said George Israel, the chamber's chief executive. "It would cause delays in almost everything, from hospital expansions to school auditoriums."
“If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will not only hinder the ability to supply power to the state, it will have a major negative impact on future economic development in Georgia.”
Israel, local Albany officials and a lawyer for LS Power met with the newspaper on Tuesday to lay out their opposition to the ruling.
The court will decide by Aug. 29 whether to hear the appeal. The Sierra Club, which filed the lawsuit, said the ruling does not affect alternative energy projects.
"Georgia needs to be on the front of the clean energy economy," said Patty Durand, the group's president. "It's too bad the Georgia chamber chooses not to be a leader of a change that's inevitable."
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the battle over the Longleaf Power Station.
LS Power, the company seeking to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia, says it will appeal a recent court ruling that halted construction.
Mike Vogt, project director with LS Power told the Dothan Eagle newspaper,
“We’re 100 percent committed to staying the course to begin construction.”
In a landmark ruling on June 30, the Fulton County Superior Court reversed an earlier administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit that had okayed the $1.2 billion project in Early County.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.
LS Power will appeal the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals in August. Proponents say the project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.
A group of area residents and environmentalists fighting the project say the plant will emit unchecked amounts of carbon dioxide, harmful amounts of dust, and other pollutants.
The Longleaf Power Plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last two decades.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the issues at stake in the case.
In a landmark ruling with national implications, The Fulton County Superior Court today reversed a previous administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit allowing the construction of a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia.
"We are in a moment of elation," said Justine Thompson a lawyer for Greenlaw, who represent a coalition of local residents and environmental groups that are fighting the plant's construction.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.
Wyatt said in her ruling regarding the plant's projected carbon dioxide emissions:
"Faced with the ruling in Massachusetts that CO2 is an “air pollutant” under the Act, Respondents are forced to argue that CO2 is still not a “pollutant subject to regulation under the Act.” Respondents’ position is untenable. Putting aside the argument that any substance that falls within the statutory definition of “air pollutant may be “subject to” regulation under the Act, there is no question that CO2 is “subject to regulation under the Act."
Howells, in an 108-page decision reached on January 11th, had ruled affirming the EPD decision to issue an air quality permit:
"...the weight of the evidence demonstrates that limits imposed by EPD are reasonable and supported by law.”
The Houston-based Dynegy Company wants to build the 1200-megawatt Longleaf power plant on the Chattahoochee River in Early County.
The opponents last year filed an appeal to stop the construction. The say the plant would emit unchecked levels of carbon dioxide, and unacceptable amounts of other pollutants.
Proponents say the 1.2-billion dollar project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.
The plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last 20-years.
Environmentalists said the decision marks the first time that a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source.
The court's April 2007 decision said the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are blamed for global warming.
"We will be taking this decision and making the same arguments to push for an end to conventional coal," said Bruce Nilles, who oversees the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.
The plant's developers, LS Power and Dynegy Inc., said they planned to appeal.
"We are surprised with Judge Moore's ruling against us in every respect," said Mike Vogt, a spokesman for the energy plant. He also downplayed the ruling's impact on other pending lawsuits.
"I don't know what type of legal precedent a superior court judge in one state has over judges in other states," he said.
At a June 3 hearing, lawyers representing state regulators and plant developers said there was no federal standard yet to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and warned that a ruling to regulate the gas would "short-circuit" legislators' work to develop new rules.
The plant is expected to create more than 100 full-time jobs and give millions of dollars in tax revenues to Early County, where almost a quarter of the 12,000 residents live in poverty. It would power more than a half-million homes through utilities in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Each year it would emit as much as 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, worrying critics who say it could cause health problems in a county that already suffers above-average air pollution.
The decision will force state regulators to reconsider coal-fired power plants and could push state regulators toward cleaner and more efficient energy, said Patti Durand, director of the Sierra Club's Georgia chapter.
"It's a scandal that energy companies are still trying to build coal plants even though they cause global warming," she said. "I can't be more thrilled. It's a huge ruling. This is a new day in the United States, and I'm thrilled."
Click here for more GPB News coverage about the Longleaf power station.
Environmental groups fighting a planned coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia have taken their fight to the Superior Court. The Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club of Georgia are appealing a recent administrative court ruling giving the go-ahead for the 1.2 billion dollar facility.
In January, an Atlanta administrative court judge okay'd a contested permit to the Dynegy company construct the 1,200 megawatt Longleaf powerplant.
The plant, to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee, in Early County, would be the first such facility in Georgia in 20 years.
Attorneys representing opponents to the plant say, despite the EPD permit, the facility will emit unhealthy amounts of carbon dioxide and coal dust.
Supporters of the project says the claims are exaggerated, and that the project would provide hundreds of needed jobs for the economically ailing area.
A hearing on the issue is expected within about 90 days.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of this report.
The state heard closing arguments today, on whether to allow a Houston, Texas company to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia. Environmentalists say if the plant is built, annual pollution levels will equal the exhaust from one and a half million new cars each year. The testimony before the Office of State Administrative Hearings capped a nearly month long trial. At issue is whether to allow Dynegy of Houston to build a 1,200 megawatt coal fired power plant in Early County.
Justine Thompson is Executive Director of Greenlaw, one of the groups protesting construction of the coal-powered facility. She accuses the state Environmental Protection Division of ignoring the concerns of Georgians throughout the permit and hearing process.
“The EPD, while it’s middle name is “protection,” it considers its client to be the industry that’s requesting a permit, instead of the general public. They basically just adopted the coal company’s position and didn’t adequately review the permit.”
Dynegy presently operates thirty two energy facilities around the country, including the Heard County Power Plant in Franklin, Georgia. Neither attorneys for the EPD nor Dynegy were available for comment.
Environmental groups opened a legal challenge in Atlanta today to halt the construction of a new coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia.
A coalition of activists are challenging a Georgia Environmental Division permit for the 1,200-megawatt facility in Early County, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. The appeal, submitted by the Sierra Club and residents of Early County opposing the plant, temporarily stays the permit.
The groups claim the permit violates the Georgia Air Quality act and the federal Clean Air act.
“If this coal plant is built, we will have to breathe in even more pollution that is swept in by the winds from south Georgia.” said Justine Thompson of the Center for Law in the Public Interest.
“We have enough pollution in Georgia, and truth be told – we have enough power,” Thompson told reporters at the capitol.
“Dynegy will sell its power to other states, so Georgia will not get most of the power, Georgia will not get the profits – but Georgia will get the pollution,” she said.
Dynegy Inc., a Houston-based energy company, is planning and building the plant together with New Jersey-based LS Power.
The appeal outlines 17 legal reasons which the permit should be denied. It now goes to an administrative law judge.
