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.
Power producer Dynegy Inc. on Friday said it plans to dissolve a development joint venture with LS Power Associates LP, due to constrained credit markets and economic uncertainty.
Dynegy will record an undisclosed loss in 2009 related to the transaction while LS Power will receive about $19 million in cash during the first quarter to reflect the relative value of assets exchanged.
The two companies agreed to the dissolution and that Dynegy will acquire exclusive rights, ownership and developmental control of all repowering or expansion opportunities related to its existing portfolio of operation assets.
LS Power will acquire full ownership and developmental rights associated with various "greenfield" projects under consideration in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada, as well as other power generation and transmission development projects not related to Dynegy's existing operating portfolio of assets.
"Today, the development of new generation is increasingly marked by barriers to entry including external credit and regulatory factors that make development much more uncertain," said Bruce Williamson, Dynegy's chief executive.
"In light of these market circumstances, Dynegy has elected to focus development activities and investments around our own portfolio where we control the option to develop and can manage the costs being incurred more closely."
Click here for previous GPB News coverage of this developing story.
One of the backers of a controversial plan to build a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia says a tight credit market is forcing his company to reassess their investment.
The Houston-based Dynegy Corporation says an uncertain economy is behind their decision to reconsider their backing of LS Power. It wants to build a 1,200 megawatt power station along the Chattahoochee River in Blakely.
Dynegy spokesman David Byford:
“Last week we announced a reevaluation of our participation in future activities or projects that are outside of Dynegy’s operational footprint.”
That footprint includes six energy projects, including the Longleaf plant that Dynegy is reconsidering, nationwide.
Blakeley Mayor Ric Hall says if Dynegy drop’s their support, it would hit the rural town hard:
“…well, if they pull out, certainly it would have a devastating impact on job potential… it’s been quite a number of years now in which we have held out hope that possibly they would be able to build a plant here because of the impact that it could have economically on our community.”
Local officials say the plant would create about a thousand construction jobs, more than 100 full-time positions, and add millions of tax-revenue dollars to Early County. The county is one of the poorest in the state and is banking on the jobs.
The power plant has been talked about for the past seven years.
But plans came to a crawl earlier this year, when an Atlanta judge accepted an appeal by environmentalists against the facility. They claim high carbon dioxide, sulfur and particulate pollution levels aren’t worth the economic benefits.
Billy Fleming is the publisher of the Blakeley-based Early County News. Fleming’s a staunch supporter of the power plant, and says he wasn’t surprised by Dynegy’s reevaluation:
“With what’s going on the financial world today, we got a landscape out there today nobody ever dreamed they’d see, and everybody’s having to back up and rethink and reevaluate their positions on a lot of things. And I have no doubt that the difficulty of permitting and constructing a coal-fired plant with all the global-warming alarmists’ stuff going on is in the back of their heads as well.”
Mayor Hall agrees, and says that the environmental lawsuit hurt the plant:
“..and then of course the tremendous expense that has been associated with the legal battle that they’ve had to go through – particularly in the last three years.”
LS Power says they’re going ahead with the project, despite Dynegy’s pending decision. Officials with the New-Jersey-based firm say they’ve filed another appeal against the court ruling – one that they hope to see adjucated by the summer of 2009.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
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.
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.
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.
