Georgia Power's Plant Bowen in Euharlee, Ga., about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. On Monday, a Superior Court judge blocked the construction of a coal plant near Columbus, Ga. (AP Photo/The Daily Tribune News, Dayton P. Strickland/FILE)
Citing global warming, Georgia judge blocks coal plant
By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.02.08
In what is thought to be an unprecedented ruling, a Superior Court judge in Fulton County, Ga., halted the construction of a coal-fired power plant, saying that the plant must limit its emissions of carbon dioxide.
Citing an April 2007 US Supreme Court ruling that recognizes carbon dioxide – the primary gas responsible for global warming – as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore overturned a lower court’s decision to issue an air-pollution permit to Dynegy’s Longleaf power plant near Columbus, Ga. Her decision is believed to be the first one that links global warming to an air-pollution permit.
The case had been brought by the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee, a local environmental group. They were represented by GreenLaw, an Atlanta-based public-interest law firm.
The coal-fired power plant – the first proposed in Georgia in 20 years – cannot begin construction until it can obtain a valid permit that complies with the court’s ruling.
The 19-page ruling [PDF via GreenLaw] says that “[t]here is no dispute that the proposed power plant would be a ‘major emitting facility’ as defined by the [Clean Air] Act,” requiring that the plant must incorporate the “best available control technology” to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
GreenLaw says that the proposed plant would emit 9 million tons of CO2 each year – the equivalent of 1.3 million cars. The firm also notes that a typical coal-fired plant emits 3.7 million tons annually, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution quotes opponents of the plant who hail the groundbreaking decision:
“We think this is the beginning of the end of conventional coal-fired power plants, because of the enormity of their emissions,” said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s national campaign against coal.
Of the 80 coal plants in the permitting process nationwide, about 30 are in active litigation, Nilles said. The Sierra Club is fighting coal plants across the country and was one of the petitioners in the Georgia case.
“Our state can find other ways to produce cleaner, more economically beneficial energy,” said Patty Durand, director of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Other states are doing it. Why can’t we?”
The New York Times says that the impact of the decision for the Longleaf plant, or for other proposed plants in Georgia and around the country, is unclear:
Robert Wyman, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins, the law firm, who has represented power producers in previous cases, said of the decision: “I would be surprised if it had much of an impact. I’m not sure other jurisdictions will pick up that opinion.” He said that, despite the Supreme Court finding, federal regulators had not issued the finding required before a pollutant can be regulated.
Vickie Patton, the deputy general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund, however, argued that the judge’s reasoning might prove persuasive to other courts facing similar issues.
The Knight Science Journalism Tracker – an insider blog for science writers – is skeptical that the ruling will stick:
<< Virginia coal-fired power plant approved | MainBig coal has BIG money, as do the utilities that burn its product, and as does industry and, most important, as does the general public. None are at all resigned to blackouts and rolling brownouts and soaring electricity bills while coal capture and sequestration technologies remain good ideas with absolutely no full-scale prototype operations, anywhere.
Comments
2. Michael | 07.02.08
200 years of coal, or 2 billion years of solar power, the future is sunny! I produce all my own electric power from solar panels, during the summer months I produce more than I consume, generating credits with the utility for the winter months.
I installed solar panels 5 years ago and haven’t paid an electric bill since.
The simple truth is that we don’t need coal fired electricity.
3. Chad | 07.02.08
Producing electricity while meeting the requirements of all environmentalists is impossible.
1) No fossil fuels
2) No nuclear
3) No wind (bird migration)
4) No hydroelectric (dams disrupt river life)
5) No tidal (might kill fish)
that leaves solar - when it does not interfere with endangered species, and biomass as long as we do not cut down any more trees in order to devote more land to agriculture
This CANNOT be done. Perhaps we should pick our battles a little more carefully? Maybe we should be encouraging electric companies to build the cleanest cheapest facilities available now, so that maybe some of the old nasty ones will shut down.
4. KC | 07.02.08
I imagine ignorance is bliss. The amount of megawatts required in the state of Georgia far exceed and capability of Solar or wind (georgia is not feasible for wind power). So I guess we go off and build nuclear plants rather then use our cheapest source of power …COAL. Hope all you shortsighted enviro folks dont mind paying for billion dollar nuc plants via increased electric bills.
5. Buffalo Bruce | 07.02.08
I prefer wind power myself. However, the proposed coal plant would have been cleaner than existing coal plants. The electrical energy companies should get behind the spirit of Judge Moore’s ruling by denying Atlanta any electricity produced from older, dirtier coal plants. Maybe Sierra Club members could pedal stationary generator bicycles to power their air conditioners.
6. Mike | 07.02.08
Chad has it right, except that Bio-mass takes CO2 that is trapped in the ground and releases it into the atmosphere. The environmentalists have brainwashed most of the country into believing this nonsense and we will all pay the price. CO2 is a diluent and the human contribution to the total CO2 is insignificant if you at all believe in the tale. Guess what makes up the largest of the green house gases? Water! Lets reduce that now!!!!
7. Scott | 07.02.08
CO2 is not a pollutant. CO2 is required for photosynthesis in plants. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the greater the abundance of plant life. The greenest thing we can do is put more CO2 into the atmosphere, so buy a CO2 maker!
The earth is not warming. When the earth’s climate changes, I would submit that these changes are driven primarily by the sun and geological activity, secondarily by ocean cycles. Currently, the sun is alarmingly inactive, and surface ocean temperatures are in a cooling trend.
Coal is the most abundant energy source in America. We have more energy in known coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has in known oil reserves. China has half the coal we do and produce twice as much as us.
Until we can find a cheaper electrical energy source than coal (without subsidies), or find a way to get the government to let us use nuclear power, we should keep using what works.
8. Reality Check | 07.02.08
People need to learn to compromise and come up with a game plan which works. Fact: The year 2018 becaomes a “tipping point” for when demand for electricity exceeds the ability supply reliable power w/o added base load gernation. In the meantime, capacity reserves will be drawn down to a point where industry experts believe some regions will begin to experience problems during periods of peak use.
Fact: Renewable energy won’t avert this supply-demand disaster. Renewable energy sources do not provide base load power; the are intermittent in nature, depending on high winds and sunshine.
Fact: It takes 8 to 10 years to build a base load power plant.
What this means is rolling black outs by 2018 if we don’t build more base load power plants. Rolling black outs sent the South Africa economy into a tell spin (search Eskom). The country is now leving a 100% increase in retial electric rates. Eskom (the power company) is seeking a 53% tariff hike this year ot pay for fuel supplies and fund massive generation projects.
I am all for solar power and wind power. I plan on adding solar panels and solar hot water heater to my home in the next couple years (cost is rather prohibitive). Solution: build a few plants and get the gov’t to step up wind and solar technology.
9. CeeBee | 07.02.08
I’d like to thank Judge Moore for not being swayed by big industry. These companies do not care about anything except profits for themselves. I hope other judges around the country follow your awesome lead! You ROCK, Judge Moore!!!!!!!!!
10. A Friend | 07.02.08
DMac and CeeBee-
Please turn off your computer immediately; you are using electricity and creating CO2. Or is it ok for you guys?
11. Dan Pangburn | 07.02.08
The Supreme Court demonstrated that they are technologically challenged when they declared a transparent, odorless, tasteless gas that is absolutely necessary for all visible life to exist on earth as a pollutant. Apparently Judge Moore is just as technologically challenged.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide level will continue to increase irrespective of what the 5% of the world’s population that are lucky enough to live in the United States do. As amply demonstrated by climate history, added atmospheric carbon dioxide has no significant influence on climate. As the carbon dioxide level continues to increase and the temperature doesn’t, more and more people are going to look pretty foolish.
Does anyone wonder where the solar power advocate gets electricity after the sun goes down? Base load capability is required.
12. Wayne Delbeke | 07.02.08
Have any of you looked at the cost and energy balance in producing solar panels along with their life cycle efficiency and costs? You might be surprised by the environmental impact of these seemingly innocuous devices.
THINK
13. owl | 07.03.08
Pollution is any byproduct in the wrong amount in the wrong place with the capability to cause damage. The judge recognized the obvious - a 40% increase of CO2 in the atmosphere is pollution. It’s not exactly a secret. If you want to get this thing right, get the cleaner coal initiatives back on track. Building this thing the wrong way is a half-century mistake. If and when emission taxes or caps comes into play, the dream of a cheap power source could have a very rude awakening.
14. Dan Pangburn | 07.03.08
What is obvious to some is often wrong. The only detectable effect so far of the CO2 increase has been an enhancement of plant growth. Some greenhouses exploit this by artificially increasing the CO2 level.
Nuclear plants produce no carbon dioxide. The safety issue is a red herring. There have never been any radiation fatalities from nuclear plants in the US. Concern about waste disposal is basic nonsense. The ‘waste’ is actually an excellant source of fuel when reprocessed. Once the paranoia about breeder reactors is overcome the 95% of energy remaining in the ’spent fuel’ can be realized. Then there will be enough electricity to recharge the batteries in proliferating plug-in hibreds and to make synthetic liquid fuel to keep them going on trips.
15. Reality Check | 07.03.08
To Wayne…
I have looked into the costs. In order to supply energy to my home the cost is anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 dollars. They will pay for themselves in roughly 5 years. With careful money managment we should be able to install them in two years. Keep in mind that there are a lot of people who can’t afford this kind of investment into solar panels. There are also a lot of people who live in apartments and can’t install solar panels. Also, if there are enough cloudy days in a row, you will have to pay for some electric.
To everybody on this website…
This is no joke, in 2018 there will be rolling black outs if our country doesn’t build more base load power plants. The July issue of Country Living Magazine carried a real interesting article about the subject. NBC Nightly News had a news story about the subject. There are many other sources saying the same thing. We have to have both, power plants to keep this country running long enough for alternative forms of cleaner energy to become effective, reliable, and affordable.
16. Fred Bentler | 07.03.08
I have a theory that the legions of deniers like 7. Scott and 14. Dan who seem to descend like flying monkeys to post comments on climate related articles such as this are actually investors, and are very worried about losing their shirts (as well they should be). I used to see it in the late 90’s in the run-up of the stock market, before the bubble burst, with pump-and-dumpers posting disinformation on discussion boards at Yahoo and Silicon Investor. These people are protecting the value of their accounts, there are lots of them, and if the past is any indication, they stay in very close contact.
17. Scott | 07.03.08
Fred,
I do have a savings account AND a retirement account. Does that make me an investor?
It’s actually pathetic that I’m labeled a denier when I could easily label you a denier because you deny the warming effect of that huge ball of fire that we see every day.
I do have an agenda. My agenda is to help we the people get our government off our backs and out of the way. My agenda is individual rights. I’m not a conservative and certainly not a liberal. My political beliefs are centered on just 2 ideas: liberty and capitalism.
18. george | 07.03.08
Steam Turbines may be potentially 30 Times more efficient,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080626150930.htm
Why then are we sinking Billions in this antiquated technology?
Global Warming caused the largest Mass Extinction Ever, 247 million years ago.
This is FACT not theory.
Regardless of those who would quibble over who owns the freight train that is bearing down on us, Responsible adults will take action.
We must get off this global warming track in any event.
Thank You Judge Thelma Wyatt ******* Moore from pulling us back from humanities self-imposed extinction.
Put the brakes on stupidity,
Get the much smarter technologies online now.
Save humanity & the planet.
19. Dan Pangburn | 07.03.08
Fred,
I am not an investor (I am a licensed Mechanical Engineer) but it appears that big money might be made by whoever deals in carbon trades; at least until more people realize that added atmospheric carbon dioxide level has no significant influence on climate. The list of ’skeptics’ is growing.
George,
Whoever is responsible for that article should be ashamed. (The study was about boilers not turbines). The only possible effect is that the boiler could be made a bit smaller. What they are studying is an enhanced heat transfer coefficient which has been studied for decades. There is no efficiency improvement. Efficiency is always defined as input energy divided by output energy. That a professor should imply that it would take 30 times less energy to boil water is abominable. I suspect editorial license.
Four graphs of NOAA and other government agency provided (all source sites are given to facilitate checking) climate history data with time spans of the last 140 years, the last 1000 years, the last 11000 years and the last 140,000 years can be seen at http://www.middlebury.net/op-ed/pangburn.html.
20. Thomas | 07.04.08
A German politician once spoke a great truth by saying, in so many words
“The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it”
This has never been so true as today with the whole Environmental Movement and their relentless lies about Global Warming, Climate Change, destroying the Earth, etc. etc.
Another German politician once said “Environmentalists are like watermelons, green on the outside, red (communist) on the inside” this is absolutely correct. Environmentalists and their government supporters are perveyors of communistic thought whether they know it or not, and so are their minions, the ignorent masses who have fallen victim to their relentless propaganda.
What these people want is to destroy our way of life and faith in God, and make us all slaves by destroying our economy. Judicial activism like this is destroying us, brick by brick, and turning this once great Republic into a communist state.
It’s too bad people can’t see it.
Energy would be both cheaper and more abundant if the environmentalists hadn’t wrecked our economy and clouded millions of minds.
What environmentalists should do is move to a place like Africa or some other Third World Hellhole, live primitively for a year, and see what it’s like. They shouldn’t be allowed to benefit in any way from the easy life, amenities, healthy food and drinking water provided by the use of “evil” fossil fuels. This way, they won’t be commiting the ultimate “sin” of having a big “carbon footprint” and offending their fantasy Earth-God “Gaia”.
I have met many environmentalists. And I can tell you that the vast majority are communist or communist-leaning in their outlook, very anti-Christian, morally loose and generally slobs in their personal life, both literally and figuratively.
Despite all their preaching, they have NO respect for true science, Nature, or their fellow Man, let alone God himself.
They believe that “going green” or riding their bike to work will win them points somehow and get them to heaven.
Environmentalists and many like them, are simply Enemies of the People, and should be treated as such.
21. MixHeadayRexy | 02.01.09
[url=http://verifiedfile.com][img]http://demya.com/images/promotion.gif[/img][/url]
[b]Promote Your Website, Product & Services on Targeted Forums & Blogs[/b]
We can post your promotional message on millions of forums worldwide. No, this isn’t spam email. It’s penetrating online established communities relative to your website, product or services. Not only does this increase SEO & Web Traffic, but by targeting forums relative to your online activity, you are able to increase potential sales.
The post will appear exactly like this post.
You define the TITLE, POST, & ANCHOR TEXT which can include url back links to your website.
[b]Watch Online Video Demonstration[/b]
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tMub6dJmHoY
[b]Our Prices:[/b]
100,000 Unique Forum Posts: $75
500,000 Unique Forum Posts: $250
[b]Why Use Our Services? [/b]
Improve SEO & Search Engine Rankings, Gain Alexa Ratings, Increase Traffic, Brand Your Domain & Products, Improve Sales & Market Potential, etc.
[b]Note[/b] - This post was published by our automated software.
Feel free to contact us directly via [b]ICQ: 162456288 [/b] or [url=http://demya.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=73&zenid=3g5ila7tn5duhqtnkia8rehba5][b]Click Here[/b][/url] to visit our Website [url=http://www.demya.com][img]http://demya.com/images/forums.gif[/img][/url].
[b]Company Website:[/b] [url=http://verifiedfile.com][b]VerifiedFile.com[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.verifiedfile.com][img]http://client.alexa.com/common/images/logotrafficRankings.gif[/img][/url]
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. DMac | 07.02.08
I live in Atlanta, GA and am so proud of the Superior Court judge for this ruling. I will continue to ask my state legislators to act responsibly. Our government must demand that coal plants account for their contribution to global warming. We have to create electricity without burning fossil fuels.