Enviros challenge air pollution permit for controversial Duke coal plant

Citing a recent federal court ruling, 18 environmental groups have called on the North Carolina Division of Air Quality to reopen the pollution permit it granted last month for Duke Energy's proposed new coal-burning unit at its Cliffside power plant in the western part of the state. In a letter submitted to DAQ, the groups charge that the permit is illegal under the Clean Air Act because it fails to require the toughest controls available for mercury, a potent neurotoxin released from burning coal.

"North Carolina has issued an illegal permit that violates the Clean Air Act and a federal court ruling," said Gudrun Thompson, attorney with the nonprofit Southern Environmental Law Center, which submitted the letter to DAQ. "The Division of Air Quality must now go back and do its homework by first identifying the highest achievable level of control for this hazardous pollutant and then requiring Duke to implement it."

The other signatories include Environment North Carolina, Environmental Defense, National Parks Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, Sierra Club's N.C. chapter, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Cape Fear Riverkeeper, Catawba Riverkeeper, Lower Neuse Riverkeeper, New Riverkeeper, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, Watauga Riverkeeper, Waccamaw Riverkeeper, Yadkin Riverkeeper, and Cape Fear Coastkeeper.

The permit issued by DAQ would allow Duke's plant to emit mercury at a rate 10 times higher than the Clean Air Act allows. In addition, the permit fails to require or even analyze maximum pollution controls for 66 other hazardous air pollutants emitted by coal-fired power plants, including hydrochloric acid, arsenic, dioxins, and heavy metals other than mercury.

(Photo of Cliffside Steam Station from Duke Energy's Web site)

Labels: coal, Duke Energy, energy policy, environment, north carolina, Southern Environmental Law Center