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Another Legal Challenge for AEP’s Turk Plant

A U.S. District judge on Tuesday allowed a lawsuit filed by environmental groups that challenges a permit for Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s (SWEPCO’s) John W. Turk plant to stand.

The Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas, and the National Audubon Society had filed the suit with the federal court in the Western District of Arkansas in February to halt work on the ultrasupercritical power plant under construction. The suit claims that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not conduct proper permitting for the Hempstead County plant. The groups said that proper assessments of the plant’s effect on surrounding wetlands were never done.

The Corps issued an environmental permit for the $1.7 billion, 600-MW plant in December. Plaintiffs said that the federal body’s assessment relied on data supplied by SWEPCO, an American Electric Power subsidiary, rather than on independent research.

But after a telephone conference with attorneys from all sides, Judge William R. Wilson, Jr. on Tuesday denied SWEPCO’s motion to dismiss, saying there was legal standing to continue. He also asked the parties to meet later this month to discuss the case, saying that he wanted to schedule a preliminary hearing as soon as possible.

Last month, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) improperly granted a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (CECPN) permit to the plant. SWEPCO has since asked the high court to reconsider its ruling.

Construction continues on the plant, which is 33% complete.

Sources: POWERnews, Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas

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