Massive Coal Ash Spill Leads to Challenge of Tennessee Valley Authority

A coalition of local residents and environmental groups put the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on notice today for its negligence surrounding the tragic December 22 coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee. In collaboration with dozens of neighbors whose property was directly affected by the spill, the groups Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Earthjustice, Public Justice, and Sierra Club are requesting that a federal court oversee the cleanup and remediation and that the responsible parties compensate local residents.

"This catastrophic spill was a colossal tragedy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority could have avoided this disaster had it taken its responsibilities seriously," said Bruce Nilles, Director of Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. "This massive spill reminds us that coal is not clean, and coal is not cheap."

To read the rest of the Sierra Club Press Release click here!

To read Sierra Club's notice letter click here.

Kansas Hearing Officer rules Sunflower Electric Power Corp. must regulate CO2 emissions from massive coal plant expansion

Sierra Club and allies won a major victory on December 11, 2008, when a state hearing officer ruled that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment acted properly last year when it rejected Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s air permit for its massive coal-fired power plant expansion in western Kansas. The Dept. initially rejected Sunflower’s air permit because it contained no plans to control carbon dioxide emissions from the 1600MW expansion, and the proposed plant would have emitted an estimated 11 million tons of CO2 each year. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has also consistently acted against the Sunflower expansion; she successfully vetoed three bills that would have granted the proposed plant’s air permit. Last year Kansas was the first state in the union to reject a coal plant because its contribution to global warming posed a serious threat to local communities and the environment, and this ruling represents a monumental win in the fight against global warming.

Sunflower Electric Power Corp. has 15 days to petition the Dept. to review the hearing officer’s decision. To read the hearing officer’s order, click here.

Sierra Club and allies win long, hard fight against Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal-fired power plant in North Carolina!

On December 2, 2008, Sierra Club and our allies won a major victory against Duke Energy after federal judge Lacy Thornburg ruled that Duke was in violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for failing to adequately regulate toxic air pollution from its proposed Cliffside Unit 6. The judge ruled that under the CAA, Duke is required to perform a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) analysis to determine how to control mercury and other hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from the proposed unit. Duke has sixty days to complete its analysis, but has stated it will appeal the decision.

Duke Energy initially obtained its air permit for the new unit under the Bush administration’s Clean Air Mercury Rule, a cap and trade program put in place to regulate HAPs from industrial sources that oddly exempted coal-fired plants (the dirtiest polluters) from having to control their toxic air pollutant emissions. Fortunately, federal judges struck down Bush’s mercury rule in February 2008, thus requiring all new coal plant facilities to regulate their HAP emissions, which Duke repeatedly refused to do.

This is the first ruling in the nation that holds that a new facility – one that received its permit and began construction before the court struck down the mercury rule in February – must comply with the MACT requirements of the CAA and it will have far-reaching implications across the country. New coal-fired facilities, regardless of when their air permit was issued, are now required to control their HAP emissions to the maximum extent possible.

To read the judge's final order, click here.