Federal Appeals Ruling Puts Ohio Coal Proposals in Jeopardy

This press release was issued Friday, Nov. 14 by the Sierra Club:

Columbus, OH – In a move likely to advance a clean energy future for Ohio, the federal appeals board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming from new coal-fired power plants. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

Two of the largest new coal proposals for Ohio, the AMP-Ohio power plant in Meigs County and the Baard liquid coal plant in Columbiana County, are likely to face setbacks from the ruling. Both companies had previously insisted that carbon dioxide should remain unregulated – an argument rejected in today’s ruling – and had resisted attempts to establish carbon limits in their air permits.

“Coal plants emit 30% of our nation’s global warming pollution. Building new coal plants without controlling their carbon emissions could wipe out all of the other efforts being undertaken by cities, states and communities to fight global warming across the country," said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “Everyone has a role to play and it’s time that the coal industry did its part and started living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”

The Sierra Club went before the Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2008 to request that the air permit for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative’s proposed waste coal-fired power plant be overturned because it failed to require any controls on carbon dioxide pollution. Deseret Power’s 110 MW plant in Bonanza, UT would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“The implications of this ruling for Ohio are huge,” said Nachy Kanfer, with Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign in Ohio. “This federal ruling underscores the necessity to invest in green jobs in Ohio, rather than building more coal plants that create air pollution and increase global warming. People in Ohio want green jobs, and this is a powerful incentive to invest in the green industries that can revitalize our manufacturing base.”

The proposed Baard Energy facility was projected to emit over 25 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, or approximately 10% of Ohio’s total carbon emissions from transportation, commerce, industry, residences, and agriculture. The proposed AMP-Ohio plant had come under fire for using antiquated, inefficient pulverized coal technology to produce electricity. In addition to the federal case, Sierra Club has appealed environmental permits for both plants on the state level, as well.

A copy of the decision can be found here.