Houston-based Dynegy Corporation is dropping its support for a controversial coal-fired power plant in Southwest Georgia.
Dynegy officials say they're pulling out of the Longleaf power station project near Blakeley because of the poor economy and the possibility of tighter federal regulations.
Environmental groups are thrilled. The project ground to a halt last year amid a flurry of lawsuits over pollution controls.
Jennette Gayer of Environment Georgia says the project doesn't stand a chance now that one of its two backers has pulled out:
"It's very exciting that Dynegy cancelled their plans to build a large coal plant in early county. It's clear that Georgia has the technology, know how to provide energy without a polluting coal plant, so it's very nice to see an energy company reacting to that reality."
Officials for the company that owns the project remain optimistic, however.
New Jersey-based LS Power hopes an appeal of the court ruling this month will get the project restarted by this summer.
Click here for ongoing GPB News coverage of this story.
The Houston-based Dynegy Corporation said on Friday it was walking away from the joint venture with New York's LS Power to construct a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia. Dynegy says they took the decision due to tight credit markets and economic uncertainty. However, LS Power, who’ll own 100-percent of the proposed $2 billion facility, say they're going ahead with the project, set along the ChattahoocheeRiver. Project Manager Mike Vogt:
"We're going to push forward with the development of this plant, and ultimately customers -- hopefully in Georgia -- will decide that it does have a place and will decide that it does have a place."
Vogt says his company is also appealing a court decision from late last year that halted the project over air pollution concerns:
"The briefings will be finished in January 2009, and the court of appeals will make their decision sometime before June of 2009."
Environmentalists say the facilities' smokestacks will emit unchecked amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur, and coal dust. Supporters of the project say it’ll bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax-revenue to EarlyCounty – one of the state's poorest. Click here for more GPB News coverage of the proposed Longleaf Power plant.
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.
Georgia business groups are appealing a judge's decision to halt the construction of a coal-fired power plant. They say the ruling could stall other energy plants and hamper economic development throughout the state. A Fulton County judge made her ruling based on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that carbon dioxide could be regulated as a pollutant. The judge’s decision halted the construction of the Longleaf Energy Plant in Early County in southwest Georgia.
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.
Click on the image to read a larger version of the conclusion page of Howells' decision. The full ruling is here. (.pdf download).
Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Howells, in an 108-page decision, has ruled affirming the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (EPD) decision to issue an air quality permit to Longleaf Energy Station, in a statement released Friday morning.
Howells noted in her conclusion:
"...the weight of the evidence demonstrates that limits imposed by EPD are reasonable and supported by law.”
The 1200 - megawatt facility, to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Early Co., would be the first coal-fired plant to be built in Georgia in the last 20-years.
GreenLaw, who is representing Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club, filed suit in June of 2007 challenging the permit for the 1200 megawatt power plant. The lawsuit charged that the builders, Houston-based Dynegy Corporation, failed to include limitations for carbon dioxide and sulphur emissions. Justine Thompson, GreenLaw's Executive Director:
“We are very disappointed by the court’s ruling and we will certainly file an appeal.”
“This is the first coal-fired power permit to be approved in Georgia in over 20 years but with this court’s ruling, I fear it will not be the last. As neighboring states stand up against coal plants, Georgia’s acquiescence will make us a target for new coal-fired power plant proposals. Building this plant as currently designed will lock this state into dirty air for the life of the plant, at least 50 or more years.”
Greenlaw attorneys say they will appeal to the state Superior Court by February.
Speaking in a conference call set up by opponents in the wake of the decision, Bobby Mclendon, president of Friends of the Chattahoochee expressed his disappointment:
"I've got a medical doctor on our board of directors down hear, and he told me – I said, Sammy, what is the worst pollutant that will be emitted by this plant? – this was five years ago – and he said, 'particulate matter, Bobby' he said, 'it'll increase asthmatic attacks and asthma and things,' and he said, 'we just don't need any of it,' so knowing all this about the fallout from it, I was just extremely disappointed in the decision."
But in a separate interview, Billy Fleming, publisher of the Early County News and a long-time proponent of the plant, said he was unsurprised by Howells decision:
"Of course, we're excited as a community about the decision, and it's actually the decision we were anticipating all along. Dave, I've spent five years studying every aspect of coal-fired power-plants, global warming, particulate matter, mercury and everything, and any of us who have paid attention are very comfortable with the permits of this power plant."
Click here for more GPB News coverage and features on the issues at stake at the Longleaf Power Station.
An Atlanta judge has delayed a crucial ruling about a permit for a coal-fired power station. Administrative Judge Stephanie Howells says the delay is due to the complexity of the case.
Judge Howells must decide whether to allow the Environmental Protections Division to issue a permit for the Longleaf power station in Early Co.
In June, lawyers for Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club filed suit challenging the permit for the 1200 megawatt power plant.
The suit charged that the builders, Houston-based Dynegy Corporation, failed to include limitations for carbon dioxide and sulphur emissions.
Judge Howells says she will deliver her ruling by January 11.
Click the link below to hear a feature report on some of the issues at stake in the case.
