Activists file suit to stop construction of Greene power plant
Activist groups are suing the developer of a controversial waste coal-fired power plant in Greene County, claiming the plant cannot be built because the construction permit has expired. National Parks Conservation Association, Group Against Smog and Pollution, Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed the suit Wednesday against Wellington Development in federal court in Pittsburgh.
Plans call for the plant to be built in Nemacolin.
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a plan approval permit in June 2005, authorizing Wellington to construct a 525-megawatt plant.
The suit filed Wednesday claims Wellington Development cannot build the plant, in addition to the expired construction permit, because construction plans do no meet legal standards designed to ensure the lowest possible emissions of toxic mercury.
Public Justice, a public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., filed the charges on behalf of the environmental, conservation and health groups.
According to the suit, Wellington was required to begin construction within 18 months of the DEP permit being approved, which means construction would have needed to be under way by late December 2006.
The groups claim that numerous aerial photographs over the last year show that Wellington has not initiated construction as defined by the law, prompting Wednesday’s federal court action alleging the permit is no longer valid.
However, DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said concrete foundations were poured at the site Dec. 7, 2006.
Humphreys said the concrete foundations meet the criteria for commencement of construction, but said the case is now in litigation and that the courts will make the final decision.
Jim Hecker, environmental enforcement director at Public Justice, indicated in a press release that Wellington is now required to meet stricter requirements as required by federal law because the company allegedly failed to begin construction of the plant before its permit expired.
“Wellington couldn’t get its act together to build the plant, and now it needs stricter permit limits before any construction can occur,” Hecker said.
The groups allege a federal court ruling earlier this month that the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules exempting power plants from stricter controls on hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, were invalid.
Therefore, the groups allege in a petition to the DEP that it must revoke Wellington’s plan approval and require new stricter limits on hazardous air pollutants.
Michael Parker, legal director at group Against Smog and Pollution, said the pollution controls for the Wellington plant were selected in 2004 and are out of date.
“Cleaner technology is available, so it is time to send Wellington and the Pennsylvania DEP back to the drawing board to write a new permit that adequately protects out lungs and out waters from toxic mercury and other harmful contaminants,” Parker said.
The groups claim Wellington plant would burn waste coal, which they allege creates enormous amounts of waste ash containing dangerous concentrations of mercury and other toxic pollutants.
While proponents of the plant claim the burning cleans up waste coal piles, the groups allege that 85 tons remain as toxic waste ash for every 100 tons of waste coal that is burned.
Tom Wolper of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club acknowledged that waste coal dumps are a big problem in Pennsylvania.
“But burning waste coal simply expands the problem from the land into our air and our lungs, and adds to the global warming crisis,” he said. “We need better environmental controls that keep toxic coal emissions out of the air and toxic coal ash out of our groundwater.”
The groups argue that waste coal is “very inefficient” and that the Wellington plant would need to burn “huge amounts to generate electricity,” leading to increased soot, smog, mercury and global warming pollution.
Jon Mueller, director of litigation for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams are already suffering from nitrogen and mercury pollution and that the Wellington plant would only add to the problem.
“Ever though it would burn waste coal, this plant would significantly add to the problems,” he said. “It must employ the best emission controls available, and this action will ensure that those controls are installed prior to operation.”
Wellington’s $1.3 billion plant is being built at the former LTV Nemacolin Mine site.
A spokesman for Wellington previously said plans call for 7,300 tons of waste coal to be burned at the plant every day. The plant’s fuel would consist of 85 percent waste coal and 15 percent mined coal.
Designs call for the plant to have two combustors or boilers that would exhaust through a single stack with two flutes.
A Wellington representative could not be reached for comment regarding the lawsuit Wednesday.