Friday, Nov 30, 2007
Posted on Thu, Nov. 29, 2007
Macon Telegraph
By ED SHEARER

Judge asked to send permit for power plant back to state EPD

Environmentalist are asking an administrative law judge to send a permit for a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia back to the state Environmental Protection Division for further study.

The request came after 21 days of testimony before Judge Stephanie Howells, who said after Thursday's hearing that she planned to have a decision on Dec. 20 "unless we run into some kind of difficulty. That's the plan."

George Hayes, an attorney representing the Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club, claimed in his closing arguments that the state EPD did not follow the law and did not follow its own guidelines when granting the permit to allow the $2 billion project to be built in Early County.

"They did not exercise professional independent judgment," Hayes said in his closing argument. "Was this permit lawfully issued?"

The opponents claim the plant would violate federal and state clean air laws by not regulating carbon dioxide, and that the builders failed to use the best technology to control other pollutants.

Les Oakes, an attorney for the state EPD, said if the plant fails to meet emission standards, "there are significant fines and penalties." The plant would be developed by Houston-based Dynegy Inc. and New Jersey-based LS Power.

"We believe that considering the whole of the evidence on the record ... the evidence supports the permit," said Diane DeShazo, senior assistant attorney general. The case is among the first legal challenges filed against coal-fired plants since the Supreme Court's decision in April that carbon dioxide was a pollutant that could be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Patty Durand, the state's chapter director of the Sierra Club, said Georgia has 10 coal plants. "We do not need another coal plant," she said. "No elected officials at the Public Service Commission or Legislature have determined that Georgia needs this new dirty energy."