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Coal plant appeal heads to court

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By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER
Star-Tribune energy reporter

Thursday, November 20, 2008 9:18 PM MST

Conservation groups said they will go to state District Court to appeal Thursday's findings by the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council.

The council reportedly issued a summary judgment dismissing the groups' appeal of an air pollution permit for the Dry Fork Station coal-fired power plant now under construction north of Gillette.

"This power plant as permitted will degrade Gillette's air for decades to come. We need to make sure this project meets every legal obligation to protect the health of Wyoming communities before such a huge commitment is made," said Shannon Anderson, organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council.

A spokesman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which owns Dry Fork Station, said late Thursday afternoon that the company had not received direct confirmation of the council's actions and could not comment.

The appeal was brought by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, on behalf of the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Sierra Club. Anderson said coal-fired technology is obsolete, and the groups hope to force Basin Electric and state regulators to consider technologies that capture a bigger portion of CO2 emissions, such as critical, super-critical and coal-gasification technology.

Just last week the federal Environmental Appeals Board issued a ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency's inaction on regulating greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants and ordered the agency to rework the issue.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, which has primacy regarding the Clean Air Act in Wyoming, has long held that it doesn't have to regulate greenhouse gases. In fact, state legislators passed a law in 1998 prohibiting the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

"DEQ relied on the same excuses that were rejected by the federal appeals board of the EPA, and its decision to ignore greenhouse gases is equally flawed," staff attorney at Earthjustice Robin Cooley said in a prepared statement.

Dry Fork Station is estimated to produce 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide and 25.3 tons of methane -- the most potent greenhouse gas -- each year for at least the next 40 years.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.


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Comments to this story.

Dismayed wrote on Nov 21, 2008 6:14 AM:

" Perhaps a week with no electricity for anything would change their minds. Days are pretty short right now to have no lights, no computers, no shopping because everything in the store is run on electicity, as are fuel pumps. This is just another fund raising effort looking for an "expense award" from a well picked judge, taking from the taxpayers. "

Dewd wrote on Nov 21, 2008 8:25 AM:

" While attention is focussed on Basin Electric's new Dry Fork power plant , it's worthwhile to note that B.E. already holds the dubious distinction of operating one of the dirtiest coal fired power plants in the nation , the Laramie River plant near Wheatland. The 2007 study of the nation's 378 coal power plants rated the plants for 1. Emission Rate, and 2. total tonnage of C02 released. Laramie River was one of only nine plants that made both lists of 50 dirtiest power plants. How wonderful.

I bring this to your attention because the City of Cody is a co-owner of the Laramie River plant ( along with six other Wyoming municpalities making up WMPA, the Wyoming Municpal Power Agency co-op). When I tell my city fathers and mothers in Cody that they are contributing to the problem with global climate change well above the norm , it falls on deaf ears. "

Casper Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 8:38 AM:

" Anything for the energy industry...to heck with the people or the environment. I'm sure they will work it out...maybe a couple more contributions to line the pockets of our corrupt elected officials. The energy industry has our politicians in their pocket; they will do whatever the energy industry tells them to do. Don't worry, there is probably some clean air and water somewhere; we don't need any in Wyoming; as long as the energy companies are doing well, that's all that matters...not. "

Mac wrote on Nov 21, 2008 9:35 AM:

" The sky is falling once again with these enviro-crazies.

Global warmiing, oops, I mean "climate change" since the earth isn't actually warming at all, is the biggest scam of all time for these loons to get their shrill cries of disaster heard.

What are we talking about here? MAYBE 1/2 degree per century if the THEORY is correct? And how much will that change if the US stopped ALL carbon emissions (and the rest of the world kept on its path)? Any of you loons care to answer that question?

I don't want my electric rates to double, triple, and quadruple. I'd rather have the 1/2 degree temp increase, IF there's even any truth to THAT! "

Casper Resident wrote on Nov 21, 2008 11:34 AM:

" Mac, I have bad news for you; your electric rates are going to keep going up forever and it has nothing to do with environmentalists. The reason that your rates are going to continue to climb is due to greedy people at the top of the big energy companies who think they need to make more money than they know what to do with at the expense of everyone else. Fact is that the technology exists to generate the electricity without destroying the environment and it's not that much more expensive than doing it the old fashioned way; you just have to have the desire to do it. Obviously spewing billions of tons of pollution into the atmosphere is not going to be a positive force on our planet. If we expect this planet to survive we need to do whatever we can to reduce our impact on our host planet. If it was not possible to generate the energy we need without polluting the environment people would not be so hard on the polluters, but since we have the technology to generate clean energy there is no sense in continually polluting the planet by choice. "

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