Georgia Appeals Court to Review Rejection of Coal-Fired Power Plant Permit
The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a lower court’s decision revoking an air quality permit for construction of a coal-fired power plant on grounds the state permit failed to control CO2 emissions. The Court granted review on August 20 based on a request made by the State and supporters of the Longleaf Energy Station in Early County, Georgia.
Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore revoked Longleaf Energy Station’s state air quality permit just last month on grounds the permit must “identify, evaluate, or apply available technologies that would control CO2 emissions” at the plant. Citing the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, Judge Moore wrote that “there is no question that CO2 is ‘subject to regulation under the [Clean Air] Act’” (CAA).
The question of whether CO2 is a regulated pollutant under the CAA is the subject of substantial controversy and any interpretation by the Georgia Court of appeals likely will be subject to yet another appeal. The legal question is currently being considered by state boards, state courts and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) appeals board (EAB). A decision is expected any day from the EAB in the Deseret Power case; as the final word of the EPA, the EAB’s statutory interpretation of the CAA certainly will be a factor in the Georgia appeal.
The 1,200 megawatt Longleaf plant, which is a joint venture between Dynegy and L.S. power, would emit between eight and nine million tons of carbon dioxide annually under the original permit.