Group to sue TVA over coal plants

Group to sue TVA
over coal plants
Utility denounces attack by EPA allies
BY DAVE FLESSNER
Business Editor

The Tennessee Valley Authority, already battling another federal agency in court over the cleanup of its aging coal-fired power plants, will soon face another legal challenge to the utility's failure to bring its oldest plants up to today's air quality standards for new plants.

A Washington, D.C.-based environmental group announced Monday it plans to sue TVA in 60 days for emitting more than 3 million tons of smog and acid rain pollutants from coal plants that the group claims violate the federal Clean Air Act. The National Parks Conservation Association, a non-profit group which tries to protect the Smoky Mountains and other national parks, said TVA has tried to skirt the 1977 Clean Air Act by continuing to maintain its oldest plants. Plants built before the law became effective are grandfathered under older, less stringent standards.

"Now it is time to clean up these belching dinosaurs," said Tom Kiernan, president of the parks association. "We're tired of TVA's stall tactics; it's time for action."

TVA officials Monday denounced the association's attacks. "We totally disagree with NPCA on this issue," said John W. Shipp Jr., general manager of environmental policy and planning at TVA. "By the year 2004, we will have reduced our sulfur dioxide emissions by 80 percent and our nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 70 percent. That is taking action and not stalling."

Mr. Shipp said TVA has already spent more than $2.6 billion to reduce pollution from its 59 coal-fired units and plans to spend at least $800 million more to make further improvements in the next five years.

But the Environmental Protection Agency and the NPCA insist that TVA should do much more. The new-source standards for coal-fired plants would require TVA to spend "several billion dollars more" for further pollution reductions, Mr. Shipp said.

"We have routinely maintained our power plants so they can continue to provide reliable power to our customers at a reasonable cost," Mr. Shipp said. "Now all of a sudden EPA and others have changed their thinking and claim that our maintenance is some type of violation of the Clean Air Act. We disagree."

Last November, EPA filed action against TVA for continuing to operate eight of its oldest coal plants in violation of today's new plant standards. EPA and NPCA claim the maintenance of such plants, over time, constitutes new construction and should be covered under today's stricter new plant standards.

TVA directors and EPA Administrator Carol Browner met three separate times this year to try to negotiate an agreement to the dispute. But both sides have now sued one another and the battle appears likely headed for a long and potentially costly court battle.

"The environmental community is frustrated by TVA's unwillingness at this point to try to negotiate a settlement with EPA," said Dr. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

"The only time TVA has taken action to clean up its pollution has been in the face of regulatory or legal action."
—Danielle Droitsch

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which issued an order in August suspending any immediate enforcement of the EPA action against TVA, is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the legal dispute in January.

By then, a new president and EPA administrator may be in office. NPCA officials said they filed their action to ensure that the court considers the pollution issue, regardless of what a future EPA administration may decide.

"We want cleaner air in the Smokies and while there has been an enormous amount of talk by TVA, there has been very little action," said Danielle Droitsch, associate director for the National Parks Conservation Association in the Southeast. "The only time TVA has taken action to clean up its pollution has been in the face of regulatory or legal actions. That's why we had to file this action."