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Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Ga. appeals court reverses coal plant ruling

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals court has reversed a trial judge’s finding that plans for a coal-fired power plant were faulty because the permit failed to limit the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.

The consortium of environmental groups that filed a lawsuit to block the Longleaf Energy Plant permit will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, said Justine Thompson, executive director of GreenLaw.

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday found that the permit wasn’t adequately scrutinized by an independent third party, meaning there will probably be more delays for the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Plant. It could become Georgia’s first new coal-fired plant in more than two decades.

The Longleaf plant is one of two new coal-fired power plants currently being planned for Georgia. The other, Plant Washington, would generate 850 megawatts of electricity from a site north of Sandersville. That plant, the power from which would be divided among a consortium of electric cooperatives, has applied for state environmental permits as well. This year, four of the 10 participating cooperatives pulled out of the project, citing concerns about the cost of new carbon dioxide requirements.

Thompson said the Longleaf ruling leaves many issues unresolved, including the future of Plant Washington. But as a result of Tuesday’s ruling, “If (Plant Washington) is issued a permit, it will receive close independent and impartial scrutiny, as Longleaf didn’t,” she said.

The carbon dioxide aspect of the decision dismayed environmentalists who were exuberant when a Fulton County judge blocked the project in June 2008, based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.

Although Congress currently is developing new legislation to regulate industrial carbon dioxide emissions, Thompson said in a telephone news conference that this should have no effect on the case.