Atlanta, GA
– Monday, October 22, at 1 p.m., attorneys for GreenLaw return to the court
room of Judge Stephanie Howells for the final week of a two-month trial
challenging the permit obtained by a Texas
energy company to build a 1200 megawatt coal-fired power plant on the banks of
the Chattahoochee River south of Columbus.
“This case will have a permanent, negative impact of the
quality of the air all Georgians breathe,” stated Justine Thompson, Executive
Director of GreenLaw, a public interest legal nonprofit that is representing
the Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club in the case against
Dynegy, Inc. “If this plant is built it will lock Georgia into decades of
additional pollution from sulfur
dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOX), particulate matter
and sulfuric acid mist. All of these emissions are at levels that are hazardous
to the lungs and hearts of human beings, not to mention the wildlife in our
state. After breathing the smoke last spring from forest fires 250 miles
from Atlanta,
we learned how quickly and thoroughly contaminated air can spread throughout
the state. Atlantans as well as the residents of southwest Georgia will
suffer the consequences if this plant is built.”
The
Georgia Medical Association has taken the official position that no new
coal-fired power plants should be built in Georgia because of the hazards they
pose to human health, especially to young children and to senior citizens. This
advice was ignored by the Georgia Environmental Protection Agency (EPD), which gave
the go-ahead for construction of the Dynegy “Longleaf” plant in May of this
year.
In
addition, the EPD did not require any limitations on the amount of
carbon dioxide (CO2) that can be emitted by the smoke stacks of the plant. Carbon
dioxide is a “greenhouse gas” that has been scientifically linked to global
warming. On April 2, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental
Protection Agency must begin to consider regulation of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming.
“It
is unconscionable that our Environmental Protection Division approved a plant
designed without the best available control technology (BACT) and without any
limits on CO2 emissions,” said Patty Durand, Executive Director of the Sierra
Club of Georgia. “We are disappointed that Governor Perdue has so far failed to
exercise the leadership that we see in other states where governors Crist (R-FL),
Schwarzenegger (R-CA), and Sibelius (D-KS) have staunchly opposed the
production of electric power from coal plants.”
The
testimony in GreenLaw’s case against the permit has uncovered some startling
revelations about the procedures that were followed by the EPD in the
permitting process. At this point in the trial it is the turn of the Attorney
General’s office to defend the legality of the actions of the EPD. The AG’s
office is being aided by a team of lawyers led by Patricia Barmeyer from King
& Spalding, hired by Dynegy to support the company’s interests. GreenLaw’s
legal team is led by the nationally known air quality litigation specialist,
George Hays.
Judge
Howells expects testimony to conclude no later than October 29, and plans to
hand down her decision by early December. The trial is open to the public at
the Office of State Administrative Hearings, 230 Peachtree Street, 8th
floor. On Monday proceedings will start at 1 p.m. Beginning Tuesday, October 23, and continuing
all week proceedings will start at 9 a.m. and continue to 5:30 p.m., with a
break for lunch taken as the scheduled testimony allows.
Commenting
on the case, Jennette Gayer of Environment Georgia Environment Georgia
remarked, “There are cleaner energy production alternatives and there are
greater energy efficiencies in buildings, lighting, and transportation becoming
available every day. Our state doesn’t have to sacrifice the health of its
citizens to achieve economic development. We need to embrace the “green”
economy of the future.”
Bobby McLendon, President of Friends of the Chattahoochee, a
group in Early County opposing the plant, said, “We live here and breathe the
air, and our children are going to breathe the air. I just don’t think that
it’s right for an out-of-state company to endanger our community for the sake
of a Texas
company seeking to increase its profits. It’s just wrong to allow this merchant
plant to harm the health of Georgians.”
