ATLANTA (AP) — Environmental activists aren’t shy to concede they didn’t have much legal standing for one of the far-reaching claims they used to challenge a coal-fired power plant project in southwest Georgia.
But a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April 2007 finding that carbon dioxide was a pollutant has given them new footing to contest the $2 billion Longleaf Energy plant, which is to be built in one of Georgia’s poorest counties.
The groups asked a Fulton County judge Wednesday to halt — or at least postpone — the plant’s construction because it fails to address or regulate carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most blamed for global warming.
“Carbon dioxide today, beyond any question, is subject to regulations,” said David Walbert, a lawyer representing the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. “That, your honor, is their first fundamental failure.”
State regulators and Houston-based plant developer Dynegy Inc. dismiss such claims, noting there is no federal standard to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They also warned that a ruling to regulate the gas would “short-circuit” legislators’ work to develop new rules.
“No one is disputing that global warming is a significant issue,” said Dynegy attorney Patricia Barmeyer, who said Congress and federal agencies should decide how to restrict the gas.
“It’s going to happen in an orderly process,” she said. “It has to.”
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.
Construction could take years, but it hasn’t started yet because of the court challenges.
The project has hit a nerve among environmentalists because it was the first coal-fired power plant to be built in Georgia in more than 20 years, and because of growing concerns over climate change.
It would emit as much as 9 million tons of carbon dioxide each year and 4,700 tons of sulfur dioxide, worrying critics who say it could cause health problems in a county that already suffers above-average air pollution.
“When you read it will be spewing out eight to nine million tons of pollutants every year, one thinks it’s a typographical error,” Walbert said. “But in fact, it’s a fact.”
Green groups hoped to challenge the plant by arguing in favor of cleaner and more efficient alternative energy plants. But judges quickly narrowed the focus on how — not whether — the coal plant should be built.
It’s become a familiar fight. Activists have been protesting the coal plant for six years now, but they are quickly running out of options. In a blow to their cause, an administrative law judge ruled in the developer’s favor after a lengthy hearing in September that sought to halt the construction.
The dispute is now in the hands of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore. Her decision on whether to allow construction to continue is expected within a month.
Barmeyer also had some advice for the judge: Be wary about “leapfrogging” Congress, which is now considering mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
“When carbon dioxide is regulated, the plant will have to comply with the regulations,” she said. “But we urge you to let that process work.”
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On the Net:
http://www.sierraclub.org
www.dynegy.com