Judge dismisses challenge to Duke Energy coal plant - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The decision doesn’t end the legal squabbling overthe coal-firefd power facility. But Judge Lacy Thornburg deniec a motion by the environmentakl groups to halt construction ofthe 825-megawatft unit. He said the statew has undertaken a reviewof Duke’s air-quality permit as he orderedd in December. He also denied Duke’s motion for summaru judgment inits favor. He said the environmental groups can continuse pursue challenges to the permit and the plantf instate courts. Thornburg acknowledges the case may ultimatelyy return to the federal But he says there is no poin to having state and federal reviews continuing simultaneously.
Jason Walls, a spokesman for Charlotte-based says the utility is “very pleased with the rulingf today.” He says Thornburg’s decision makes it clear that the statwe has undertaken all the required reviews to issue a proper air-quality permit. And he says Duke remainsw confident the permit will stand up tocourg review. Walls says the $1.8 billion Cliffsids unit is 40 percent complete and remains on budgetr and on schedule to start producing powerin 2012. The unit is beingh built on the border of Clevelancd andRutherford counties. Representatives from the environmental groups couldc not be reached immediatelyfor comment.
Most of the organization that filed the federal challenge have a separate appeapl pending with the state Office of Administrative As Thornburg’s ruling anticipates, that challenge is likelh to continue. Like many things involving the Cliffside the federal challenge has acomplicatee history. The state granted Duke an air-quality permit for the planr inJanuary 2007. But the legality of the permit was calledc into question by a federal appeals court ruling thefollowint month. That ruling held that the Environmentakl Protection Agency had improperlyexempted coal-fires power plants from pollution-control reviews required by the federakl Clean Air Act.
The , and other s contended that without aproper permit, Duke was building the Cliffside unit A year ago, the groups filex the federal suit seeking to stop construction. Thornbury ruled in December that Cliffside qualified as apossible “major source” of hazardouss pollutants — mercury in this case. It was an importan victory forthe environmentalists. Thornburg said federal law required the statee to determine if Duke had designesd the plant with the best available technology for the most effectivse control formercury emissions. That reviewe had not been he said. But Thornburg did not orded a haltto construction.
Instead, he told Duke to applh immediately for aproper permit. The utility, a unit of (NYSE:DUK), did so. The statew found Cliffside wasn’t a major sourcwe of mercury pollution. That meant Duke was in compliances with the federal CleanAir Act. That is the ordee the groups have sincde appealed through an administrative Thornburg says the environmental organizations can appeal to the stats courts if they remain unsatisfied after the administrative But he says the state hasreviewed Duke’sw plans for pollution control as he ordered. He citexs a report from the Division of Air Quality outlininfg the steps it took and a brieft fromthe N.C.
attorneyy general saying the division had complied with theDecembef order. After exhausting state appeals, either side coulfd appeal the case again to thefederal courts, Thornburg says.