Fresh Loaf

This was bound to happen. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce tossed its support behind two utility companies itching to build a coal power plant in Early County and echoed their claims that a Fulton County Superior Court judge overreached in her June 30 ruling that halted the beast.

From the Albany Herald:

ALBANY — Officials with the state and area chambers of commerce say they will lend their names to an application that will be filed today with the Georgia Court of Appeals asking that a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s decision interrupting construction of a coal-fired power plant in Early County be reconsidered.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore’s ruling on June 30 invalidated a permit granted by the state Environmental Protection Division to LS Power to begin construction on the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Station in rural Early County. Chamber officials say the decision threatens economic growth potential in Georgia by hampering the state’s ability to meet the demand for reliable and affordable power.

“We’re shocked at the decision,” George Israel, president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said during a meeting Tuesday with The Albany Herald Editorial Board. “If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will not only hinder the ability to supply power to the state, it will have a major negative impact on future economic development in Georgia.”

Patricia Barmeyer, an attorney for one of the companies proposing the plant, says the judge’s ruling set back the project for one year.

The fallout from this ruling has been substantial. For one thing, the ruling was the first of its kind in the country. Moore’s decision even put the brakes on another coal power plant near Sandersville, Ga. The ruling even sparked a bit of Silkwood-esque drama; The Sierra Club received death threats two weeks ago because it supported GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that led the fight against the plant.

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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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Georgians may find out next week if they get their first new coal power plant in 20 years.

Lawyers with GreenLaw, an environmental law firm that argued against the Longleaf Plant in Early County, said Fulton County Superior Court Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore will issue a ruling between Monday and Thursday. The case examines whether the state Environmental Protection Division acted appropriately in not requiring the proposed coal plant to regulate its carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas scientists say is concentrating in the atmosphere and causing global warming.

Dynegy Co. and LS Power, the two companies pushing the plant, say it would add to the impoverished county’s tax base and bring much-needed jobs to the area. A host of opponents and critics said most of the created jobs would be temporary construction positions and that any benefit to the county would be outweighed by the health impact of the plant’s harmful emissions. The Medical Association of Georgia issued a resolution opposing any new coal plants in the state because of their emissions’ unhealthy effects.

It’s a tough call, however. Even Moore expressed difficulty with the position in which she was placed, as she stated from the bench during the case’s June 3 hearing:

“No one can be employed if they’re falling down dying,” she said, adding that she had 19 boxes of documents sitting in the clerk’s office that she needed to examine. “We need to look at both the economy and the environment. That’s what I will do.”

Moore’s ruling could establish a precedent as well, something that Dynegy’s lawyers argued would be inappropriate were it decided by a judge rather than politicians. Should Moore rule against the plant, her court would be the first in the country to do so.

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It’s hard to miss the opponents of coal-fired power plants — they’re decked out in bright colors, holding signs warning of the hazards of the carbon-belching behemoths, and are large in number when the chance arises to trumpet their cause. Those who support the nation’s cheapest and most predominant power providers wear suits, travel in stealth mode, and have high-dollar lawyers do all the talking for them.

That was the case this morning in Fulton County Superior Court when Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore presided over a packed courtroom to hear arguments over Georgia’s first coal-fired power plant in 20 years.

Houston-based Dynegy and LS Power plan to build the plant in southwest Georgia near Albany. Lawyers from the environmental law firm GreenLaw representing the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee argued that the 1,200-megawatt plant would not regulate the estimated 9 million tons of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas and chief culprit of global warming — and be in violation of state and federal law. Also of concern was the permitting process conducted by the state Environmental Protection Division.

The proposed plant has been called both a Godsend and a curse for impoverished Early County, one of the poorest in Georgia. Proponents for the $2-billion plant argue that it will create 750 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions and in years would become the county’s largest taxpayer. Critics point to the fact that its presence would result in a health hazard for its citizens and the rest of the state, ultimately stunting the county from making any real gains in the future. That’s not to mention the concerns about global warming.

Lawyers from Longleaf argued that while the issue of global warming and the impact of coal-fired power plants needs to be addressed, the discussion should not take place in the courtroom. They argued that critics were using the court to push that discussion and that it’s a policy decision best left to policymakers such as the Georgia General Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

The state is still in denial as to whether global warming even exists. The U.S. Senate, however, is beginning such a discussion this week, one which President Bush is expected to veto if it proves successful in bringing about change to the country’s current stance on global warming.

Moore is expected to deliver a ruling in 30 days.

“No one can be employed if they’re falling down dying,” she said, adding that she had 19 boxes of documents sitting in the clerk’s office that she needed to examine. “We need to look at both the economy and the environment. That’s what I will do.”

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Like breathing clean air? Don’t want to inhale toxins? You might want to keep your eyes peeled on Fulton County Superior Court tomorrow.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore will hear arguments over whether coal power plants should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and harmful to humans. The argument stems from the state Environmental Protection Division’s decision to issue an air pollution permit to Dynegy, the nation’s largest plant builder, for its proposed plant in impoverished Early County. The 1,200-megawatt plant slated to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee in southwest Georgia is estimated to emit 9 million tons of CO2 every year — the equivalent of 1.5 million cars driving 12,000 miles each year.

A group of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Friends of the Chattahoochee are fighting the plant. GreenLaw, an Atlanta-based environmental law firm, is arguing the case. The judge’s ruling — which is expected within 30 days of the hearing — could halt or suspend the plant’s construction.

The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. at at the Fulton County Superior Court located at 185 Central Avenue, Atlanta, GA.

For more information about the case, click here.

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Did ya hear about this plant? GreenLaw has. The Atlanta-based environmental law firm is representing 15 groups that say a proposed power plant 60 miles outside of Macon in Sandersville has not efficiently outlined a strategy for how exactly it plans to control pollutants emitted from the facility.

Power4Georgians LLC has touted the plant as a safer, more efficient power facility that uses cleaner technologies and will have less of an impact on water resources than its antiquated counterparts. But GreenLaw considers it an unhealthy — and financially risky — energy option for Georgia. Keep in mind that Plant Scherer, branded as the nation’s foulest power plant, sits just north of Macon. (For an interesting read on how the coal used at Plant Scherer gets from Wyoming to Georgia, click here.)

“At a time when innovative, cleaner ways of producing energy are becoming more economically feasible, Georgia must look to new technologies as well as to greater conservation measures to achieve the economic growth that we expect,” Patty Durand, Georgia chapter director of the Sierra Club, said in a press release. “We need to attract more ‘green collar’ jobs for Georgia and keep our air clean for breathing.”

Click here for GreenLaw’s take on the matter. Information about the proposed plant, made available by Power4Georgians LLC, is available here.

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An Atlanta-based environmental law firm today in Fulton County Superior Court appealed a recent decision that would allow a coal-fired power plant to billow in southwest Georgia. GreenLaw, a firm representing Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Club, says that the proposed Plant Longleaf in Early County has the potential to release 9 million tons of global-warming pollution annually — the equivalent of putting 1.3 million new cars on Georgia’s roads each year. Dynegy, the company that would build the plant, says it would add jobs to one of the poorest counties in the state.

Opponents of the proposed plant have criticized the state Environmental Protection Division for what it calls a flawed permitting process. The agency did not impose a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide Plant Longleaf would release.

“The need for this plant has never been established,” says Bobby McLendon, a timber farmer and member of Friends of the Chattahoochee who lives near the proposed plant. “But more important, we know that the particulate matter from this plant will increase the number of asthma attacks and incidence of heart disease in Early County, as well as in Albany 50 miles east and in Columbus 80 miles to the north. Why are Georgia’s environmental protection officials content to swap dirty power for the healthy lives of people here in South Georgia?”

GreenLaw attorneys plan to submit evidence that the court did not hear during the first hearing. A hearing for oral arguments will likely be set within 90 days, the group says. For more information about the case, click here or visit GreenLaw’s website here.

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A federal judge in Atlanta this morning approved a permit for Plant Longleaf, a coal-fired power plant in Early County, in the process giving the green light to a facility that is expected to pump out 9 million tons of carbon dioxide each year — the equivalent of 1.3 million cars. GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that brought the case to court on behalf of the Sierra Club and Friends of Chattahoochee, says it will file an appeal before Feb. 1.

GreenLaw criticized the state Environmental Protection Division for not conducting an independent analysis on the potential impacts of Plant Longleaf, including the impact of plant emissions on local crops.

“This is the first coal-fired power plant in over 20 years, and we had hoped the state would do its own independent analysis,” says Justine Thompson of GreenLaw.

Bobby McLendon of Friends of the Chattahoochee and a resident of Early County, says he’s concerned about the plant’s potential health impacts, such as particulate matter. And while he says the medical community in Early County is worried about those effects, the local business community welcomes Longleaf.

“A lot of people down here in the banking business and chamber of commerce-type business, I think they want the thing,” McLendon says. “They think it’ll help.”

Early County is one of Georgia’s poorest counties and Plant Longleaf is expected to bring 100 jobs. McLendon says he doesn’t like to “talk about his neighbors,” but has tried to emphasize the long-term effects the plant may have not just on health, but on the environment as well. Thompson stresses that the plant would also impact the surrounding counties, and even more broadly, contribute to Georgia’s already large share of global-warming pollutants.

“The EPD has forgotten their middle name is ‘protection,’” says Patty Durand of Sierra Club’s Georgia chapter. “It’s time for the state of Georgia to say ‘enough’ to dirty coal. The EPD failed the citizens of Georgia by not conducting a thorough analysis of this plant.”

To view GreenLaw’s statement, click here. Included is the judge’s ruling and facts about Plant Longleaf.

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A group of trial lawyers who won the largest environmental settlement in Georgia history yesterday handed over checks worth a total of $100,000 to several local and regional organizations.

In 2006, Joel Wooten, Robert Killian, John Bell and Pam James represented Glynn County and 200 property owners in a case against a Brunswick plant that had discharged mercury into nearby creeks and rivers. The team won a $50 million settlement against the plant’s owner, Allied/LCP. Over the years, the group has donated more than $285,000 to various causes around Georgia, such as the Coastal Georgia Community College.

Among the recipients are Georgia Conservation Voters, GreenLaw, Georgia Watch, and the Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, Glynn Environmental Coalition, Altamaha Riverkeeper and the Satilla Riverkeeper.

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