Federal Appeals Board Remands Desert Rock Air Permit to EPA
A federal appeals board has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will have to reconsider a long-contested air permit for the $3 billion Sithe Global Desert Rock coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, saying that the agency abused its discretion by not considering integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology in its analysis of best available pollution control systems for the plant.
“The board concludes that remand of the permit in its entirety on this ground is warranted because reconsideration of the issue could have overarching impacts on the rest of the (EPA’s) analysis,” the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) said in its ruling (PDF).
The remand means more delays for the 1,500-MW Desert Rock project. First proposed in 2004, it has been embroiled in legal battles and experienced several permitting roadblocks.
Environmentalists hailed the EAB’s decision. "We firmly believe that the EPA has accepted and acknowledged their responsibilities to evaluate Desert Rock under the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act," said Janette Brimmer with Earthjustice in Seattle, attorneys for several groups, including Diné Care and San Juan Citizens Alliance. "Given this remand, we now have a chance to ensure that EPA fully complies with all legal requirements and properly applies good science in order to fully protect the air and all the residents of this beautiful region of the county."
The EPA had last year issued an air quality permit for the project despite objections from other federal agencies, the states of Colorado and New Mexico, local governments, Navajo tribal members, and citizen groups. The appeal was filed in August of 2008 with the federal appeals board in Washington, D.C.
But, in a rare move, the EPA’s Region 9 office in San Francisco requested in April of this year that the EAB voluntarily remand the Final Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit to more efficiently review sections appealed by the State of New Mexico.
The review included reconsideration of the permit’s requirements for particulate matter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5) and consideration of IGCC as the best available control technology. The EPA also planned to review New Mexico’s assertion that the final permit decision was issued before Region 9 completed consultation under the Endangered Species Act, or before completing an analysis of Desert Rock’s emissions of hazardous air pollutants like mercury.
Sources: POWERnews, Earthjustice