Fresh Loaf

A little more than one year after filing suit against a coal plant proposed for an impoverished pocket of southwest Georgia, opponents emerged victorious in the case and say the decision alters the legal landscape for one of the chief causes of global warming.

Justine Thompson of GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that fought the power plant, says Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore established a precedent this morning when she reversed a ruling by a lower court regarding a permit issued by the state Environmental Protection Division to Dynegy Co., the Houston-based company that planned to build the plant in Early County. Moore’s ruling — the first in the nation — states that the state agency must consider carbon dioxide emissions when it issues air-quality permits.

“A bombshell court ruling today,” Frank O’Donnell of the Clean Air Watch, a Washington D.C.-based environmental group, wrote in an e-mail about Moore’s decision. “This ruling could have far-reaching implications. Those proposing coal plants elsewhere are going to be running for the Excedrin.”

Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club says the ruling is nonbinding for other states but would most likely be considered when cases involving new or modified coal power plants come before a court. Nationwide, he said, 130 new coal plants are proposed. Of those, nearly 80 are in the permitting process and more than half are being battled in court by the Sierra Club.

“In a case that is being watched across the country, Judge Moore has sent a message that it is not acceptable for the state to put profits over public health,” Thompson said in a statement. “This ruling goes a long way toward protecting the right of Georgians to breathe clean air and sends a message to EPD that it must tighten the standards it uses to approve air pollution permits for companies seeking to build any more coal-fired power plants in this state.” (more…)

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Power juggernaut Southern Co. and other utilities, along with oil companies and manufacturers, were doing their best to rail against a bill voted on last week by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The so-called Lieberman-Warner bill, which called for a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels, was approved by a slim margin Dec. 5. The bill would also allow major polluters to swap pollution permits in a “cap-and-trade” system.

But Wall Street either didn’t notice what happened in the nation’s capital, or knew the bill didn’t have a chance in hell of passing when Congress eventually votes on it. The stocks of some of the biggest coal-burning companies and coal-mining operations rose Dec. 6, the day after the vote. Southern Co. was one of those lucky companies.

This coming via e-mail from Frank O’Donnell, executive director of D.C.-based Clean Air Watch:

For the record, here’s what happened for the week for the top three coal-burning power company sources of carbon emissions:
Southern Company – up $1.28 a share for the week, to close at $38.90
American Electric Power – up $1.50 to close at $49.17
Duke Energy – up $.77 to close at $20.56

And the three top coal mining firms:
Peabody Energy – up $3.25 for the week, to close at $58.89
Rio Tinto – up $.52 to close at $468
Arch Coal – up $2.30 to close at $40.16

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Taking MARTA not only saves money, it helps keep the air clean. A study released by the American Public Transportation Association shows that taking public transportation has a 10 times greater impact on reducing carbon dioxide in the air. For example, if a member of a household opts to hop on the train rather than sit in gridlock, he or she can reduce that household’s “carbon footprint” by 10 percent. Switch to public transit altogether and you can reduce your daily carbon emissions by more than 4,800 pounds a year. (Calculate your carbon footprint here.)

Atlanta’s largest transit provider in metro Atlanta removes approximately 185,000 vehicles off the city’s roads every day. Last year, MARTA recorded 147 million passenger boardings — a 6.6 percent increase from the previous year. So it doesn’t just take people to Braves games.

One question: What is MARTA’s carbon footprint?

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