SourceWatch needs your financial support to survive and thrive. If you've found this information on the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda helpful, please make a tax-deductible donation now.

From SourceWatch

The Longleaf unit is one of 4 new coal plants LS Power Development proposes to build around the nation. Longleaf Energy Associates, a branch of LS Power, originally proposed the plant; in March 2007, LS Power merged with Dynegy to form the largest builder of coal plants in the country.The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division approved construction of the plant in May 2007, and the draft air permit has been issued.^[1]

GreenLaw (formerly the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest) is leading the legal challenge to the Longleaf project, and No New Coal for Georgia is also working to stop the plant. Sierra Club and Friends of Chattahoochee have also challenged the state’s air permit, on the basis of the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA ruling requiring carbon dioxide regulation under the Clean Air Act.^[2]

An administrative law judge upheld the permit in January 2008.^[3] On February 11, GreenLaw attorneys filed an appeal to Fulton County Superior Court, representing the Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club of Georgia.^[4]

On June 30, 2008, Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore invalidated the air pollution permit required to begin construction of the plant. The judge cited the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that carbon dioxide is subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act as a pollutant. As originally permitted the plant would have emitted 9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The original permit placed no restrictions on the amount of carbon dioxide the plant could emit. This ruling could have far reaching effects and may influence permits for proposed coal-fired power plants throughout the country.^[5]

On November 4, 2008, Longleaf Energy Associates and the GA EPD filed opening briefs in their appeal of Judge Moore's decision with the state Court of Appeals. On November 24, GreenLaw, on behalf of Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee, filed responses arguing that Longleaf's BACT analysis for the plant was inadequate, and that the company is required to regulate the plant's CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act.^[6]

In December 2008, Dynegy CEO Bruce Williamson announced that the company was reevaluating its role in developing new power plants, including Longleaf. Williamson cited the tightening credit markets and difficulty in permitted new coal plants as reasons for reconsidering its involvement in the siting, permitting, financing and construction of several new projects. Other plants include the LS Power Elk Run Energy Station in Iowa, Midland Power Plant in Michigan, Plum Point Energy Station in Arkansas, Sandy Creek Plant in Texas, West Deptford Project in New Jersey, and White Pine Energy Station in Nevada. As an alternative, the company will look at adding generation to its existing sites in the Northeast, Midwest and Western U.S.^[7]

According to an April 2009 Sierra Club update, the appeal case filed in November 2008 has been fully briefed and a decision is expected by the end of July 2009.^[8]

On July 7, 2009, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued an order resulting in more delays for Longleaf. The Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that the plant must limit its carbon dioxide emissions, a decision the environmental groups said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. Despite this reversal, the court's ruling left the plant's permit invalid, further postponing the plant's construction and calling into question the viability of the project.^[9] On September 29, the Georgia Supreme Court announced that it would not hear the environmental groups' appeal. The Sierra Club said it would continue fighting the plant.^[10]

On October 8, 2009, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups filed a motion with the Georgia Supreme Court. The motion asked the Court to reconsider its decision not to hear their appeal of aspects of the Georgia Court of Appeals' ruling, including the finding that Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology did not need to be considered in the plant's Best Available Control Technology (BACT) analysis. The Georgia Supreme Court denied the Sierra Club's motion for reconsideration on November 10, 2009.^[11]

Contents 1 Project details 2 Financing 3 Citizen groups 4 Resources 4.1 References 4.2 Related SourceWatch Articles 4.3 External links

Project details

Sponsor: Longleaf Energy (LS Power Development/Dynegy)
Location: Early County, Georgia
Size: 1200 MW (two 600 MW units)
Type: Pulverized coal
Projected in service: 2012
Status: In development

Financing

• Citicorp
• Credit Suisse
• Goldman Sachs
• JP Morgan Chase
• Merrill Lynch
• Morgan Stanley

Citizen groups

• No New Coal for Georgia
• Georgia Sierra Club, georgia.chapter [at] sierraclub.org
• Friends of the Chattahoochee
• Appalachian Voices, outreach [at] appvoices.org
• GreenLaw, Jackie Hogan, jhogan [at] green-law.org
• Clean Energy for Georgia

Resources

References

1. ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2008. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
2. ↑ “Groups Battle Power Plant,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 30, 2007.
3. ↑ "Despite Health Concerns, Coal Plant Permit Affirmed by Judge", GreenLaw, January 11, 2008.
4. ↑ "Challenge to Coal-fired Power Plant Moves to Superior Court", GreenLaw, February 11, 2008.
5. ↑ Georgia court cites carbon in coal-plant ruling Reuters, June 30, 2008
6. ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed May 2009. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
7. ↑ "Dynegy to rethink new coal-fired power projects," Reuters, December 11, 2008.
8. ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed May 2009. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
9. ↑ "Court of Appeals Decision Delays Coal-fired Power Plant," GreenLaw, July 7, 2009.
10. ↑ "Coal plant denied hearing," Albany Herald, October 1, 2009.
11. ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed December 2009. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)

Related SourceWatch Articles

• Carbon Capture and Storage
• Existing U.S. Coal Plants
• US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
• Coal plants cancelled in 2007
• Coal plants cancelled in 2008
• Coal plant litigation
• Georgia and coal
• State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)

External links

• “Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants,” National Energy Tech Lab, May 1, 2007, page 10. (Pdf)
• "Project Profiles: Longleaf", LS Power corporate website, undated, accessed January 2008.
• "Dynegy: Carbon Risk Accompanies LS Power Merger", Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, March 2007. (Pdf)
• "Longleaf Energy Station", Appalachian Voices, undated, accessed January 2008.
• "Poor, Polluted – and Dead," Creative Loafing, September 19, 2007
• "Longleaf Coal-Fired Power Plant," GreenLaw, undated, accessed January 2008.