Baby, it's coal outside

Published by MAC on 2008-05-11

Sierra Club Threatens Suits Over Coal Power Plants PlanetArk US

7th May 2008

LOS ANGELES - The Sierra Club sent letters Tuesday threatening to file suit to stop construction of eight coal-fired power plants in six states because, the environmental group claims, they violate the Clean Air Act.

"This is the first major ramification on the ground from the (Washington) D.C. circuit kicking out the Bush administration's rules in February," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's effort to stop coal power plants.

In February, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act in not setting mandatory cuts for mercury emissions of power plants.

The suits would be filed in the federal districts where the proposed power plants would be located, Nilles said. The suits would seek to require the plants to go back to state permitting agencies for new permits that meet the tougher emission standards, Nilles said.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States as well as 40 percent of US carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. CO2 is the by far the largest contributor to greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Coal-fired power plants also are seen by most national politicians as essential because they make half the electricity used in the United States.

The Sierra Club said there are alternatives to coal power plants and that until capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions is proven feasible and affordable, no more coal plants should be built.

Nilles said the Sierra Club has helped stop 63 of the 150 coal-fired power plants that were in the planning stages since 2002, including 31 last year.

"There are affordable technologies widely available today that can substantially reduce mercury and other toxic pollution," said Pat Gallagher, director of the Sierra Club's environmental law program.

"In their rush to build new coal plants, developers have turned a blind eye to these technologies, and correspondingly the health of children everywhere."

About 30 coal-fired plants may be affected by the Sierra Club suits, Nilles said.

Owners of three plants under construction have already been notified of the intent to sue by the Sierra Club -- Entergy for a plant in Louisiana, Peabody Energy for a plant in Kentucky, and Louisiana Generating, a unit of NRG Energy, for a plant in Louisiana.

Another eight letters were sent Tuesday, for plants in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, the Sierra Club said. Among the plants involved are Duke Energy's Cliffside plant in North Carolina and Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU Corp, for its proposed Oak Grove plant in Texas.

The Sierra Club said it is considering whether to send intent to sue letters to owners of a dozen more plants in Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, Wyoming, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

(Reporting by Bernard Woodall; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

Kansas Governor's Third Coal Plant Veto Sustained

TOPEKA, Kansas, (ENS)

1st May 2008

Kansas will not have two new coal-fired power plants at Holcomb in the western part of the state. Late Thursday night, the Kansas House narrowly sustained the third veto of a bill to allow the plants by Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat.

The vote in the House was 80-45, four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor's veto.

Closely watched as an indicator of the mood of the Midwest on coal power, the battle between the governor and the Republican controlled Statehouse over Sunflower Electric's bid to expand its Holcomb Generating Station has absorbed much of this legislative session.

The fight began last October when Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Rod Bremby denied an air quality permit needed to proceed with construction because the two proposed 700 megawatt units would emit too much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

It was the first denial of a coal power plant permit in the country based on climate change concerns.

Supporters of the new power plants in the Legislature passed a bill to allow the plants and strip the state agency of its power to block them. Governor Sebelius vetoed that bill and two more similar attempts.

Thursday night's vote may put an end to the issue for this legislative session, which has already run over its April 30 limit, but it is possible that the House could attempt a second override of a similar coal bill rejected by Sebelius.

While Governor Sebelius called the vote, "good news for Kansas," House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, a Republican, called it "a sad day for Kansas."

"We are at a critical period for energy policy in this state and this country. We must bridge the gap between our growing energy needs, and the time when carbon capturing technology is a commercial reality," the governor said. "We must move forward strategically - steering our state clear of the environmental, health and economic risks of massive new carbon emissions."

Critics of the project also were concerned that 85 percent of the electricity produced by the two new coal-fired units would be sent to Colorado and Texas.

Sunflower Electric, based in Hays, Kansas, is developing the expansion project with Golden Spread Electric Cooperative of Texas and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Colorado.

Sunflower Electric President and CEO Earl Watkins vowed to continue efforts to expand Holcomb Station. "The majority of legislators recognize our project will be among the cleanest and most efficient coal plants in the nation and will provide affordable and reliable power to thousands of Kansas families," he said Thursday night. In lawsuits filed in the Kansas Court of Appeals and transferred to the Kansas Supreme Court, Sunflower and its member cooperatives argue that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the secretary had no authority under the law to deny the Holcomb Station expansion an air permit.

If the coal plant expansion does finally get the green light, environmental groups have said they will file lawsuits to block the development.

Governor Sebelius had offered to allow the construction of a single, smaller coal-fired power plant, but that proposal was not accepted by the power cooperatives.

"I continue to strongly oppose stripping the KDHE Secretary of his power to protect the health and environment of Kansans," the governor said on Wednesday.

"I also remain opposed to putting the regulatory permitting process into the hands of a part-time Legislature whose membership changes every two years," she said. "It sets a dangerous precedent and clearly puts us out of step with the rest of the country. The Kansas Legislature is proposing to put itself in the middle of the regulatory permitting process in a manner not found in any other state in the union."

The governor said Thursday night that she is still "ready and willing to work with all of the energy producers in Kansas to find that common ground on which true progress can be built."

Mile-Long Petition Opposes Dominion Coal Plant in Virginia

RICHMOND, Virginia, (ENS)

9th May 2008

Dominion Power proposes building a coal-fired power plant in Wise County, Virginia, but many Virginians oppose the facility because of the climate-warming greenhouse gases it would produce.

So many Virginians want to block the power plant that their 42,400 signatures fill rolls of paper a mile long displayed Thursday by the Wise Energy for Virginia coalition at a noon rally in Richmond.

The event in Kanawha Plaza drew more than 100 people, who were given green bandanas to wear in a show of unity. The organizers draped the petition around the park. The 53 rolls, each 100 feet long, cover the 5,280 feet in one mile.

After a brief press conference, members of the coalition gathered up the petition and presented it to a Dominion representative.

Today, the mile-long petition will be presented to company executives at Dominion's annual shareholder meeting in Chicago.

The proposed 585 megawatt plant is designed with conventional technology and would emit up to 5.4 million tons of greenhouse gases each year. At that level, critics say, the plant would increase by almost 15 percent Virginia's entire output of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, putting Virginia ahead of California with five times Virginia's population.

"Of the $1.8 billion cost to build this coal plant, not one penny will do anything to reduce the 5.4 million tons of global warming pollution it would emit every year - and Dominion's shareholders and customers will be left holding the bag," said Cale Jaffe, staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The plant also would emit high levels of mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particle dust, the critics say.

They also are concerned that the increased demand for coal to burn in the Dominion plant will increase the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining in Wise County and elsewhere in southwest Virginia. They are urging the company to drop the project and instead invest in energy efficiency and other clean sources of power.

"Dominion spends millions and millions of dollars on political contributions, lobbyists, PR, and on misleading advertisements in an effort to convince the public that they are good stewards of Virginia's air, soil and water," said Steve Calos, Virginia director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network. "Let's get Dominion to spend much less money on their lobbying and advertising campaigns and more on conservation and clean energy."

Dominion is moving into renewable energy. On April 21, Dominion and BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. announced that they have entered into an agreement to jointly develop, own and operate wind energy projects in Virginia. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said on April 21, "Today's announcement is another important step in continuing to grow Dominion's portfolio of renewable energy projects - which include more than 750 megawatts of wind in operation or under development."

This includes more than 750 megawatts of wind energy: 325 megawatts from Fowler Ridge, 132 megawatts from a joint development with Shell WindEnergy in Grant County, West Virginia, and 300 megawatts from Dominion's Prairie Fork Wind Farm in central Illinois.

"We are committed to meeting Virginia's goal of 12 percent of base-year electricity sales from renewable energy sources by 2022. We also plan to achieve North Carolina's goal of 12.5 percent from renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by 2021," Farrell said.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of 26,500 megawatts of generation. The company serves retail energy customers in 11 states.

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Baby, it's coal outside