TVA to face N.C. pollution lawsuit

TVA to face N.C. pollution lawsuit

Attorney general claims power plant upgrades violated Clean Air Act

By SCOTT BARKER, barkers@knews.com
November 16, 2004

North Carolina's attorney general announced Monday he intends to file a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority alleging the agency failed to comply with the Clean Air Act on at least nine separate occasions.

Attorney General Roy Cooper sent a letter to TVA officials on Nov. 10 notifying them of the lawsuit, which would be filed in federal district court.

Cooper anticipates charging that TVA failed to install the best available pollution reduction technologies at nine coal-fired power plants during upgrades dating back to the early 1980s. The plants are located in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

He contends that each upgrade violated the New Source Review provision of the Clean Air Act. New Source Review calls for utilities to install high-technology emissions controls whenever performing upgrades that go beyond routine maintenance.

TVA has been battling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over alleged New Source Review violations since 1999. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case this year on technical grounds.

North Carolina officials say emissions from TVA power plants drift across the mountains and foul the Tar Heel State's air, resulting in greater health risks for its citizens and harm to its lucrative tourism industry.

"Pollution ignores state boundaries, so we all have to do our part to make sure the air is clean," Cooper said in a statement.

John Shipp, TVA's vice president for environmental affairs, said Monday afternoon he had yet to receive the letter and wouldn't address its specific allegations.

"I can't comment on something I haven't seen," Shipp said.

Shipp had, however, seen a copy of Cooper's statement. He said the projects at the heart of the allegations are the same types of upgrades routinely made at utility plants nationwide, including those in North Carolina.

Shipp said all TVA's improvements have complied with the Clean Air Act's New Source Review provision.

"We are spending billions of dollars to reduce emissions. We are undeterred in our resolve to reduce emissions, in spite of all these lawsuits," Shipp said.

TVA has an annual budget of $7 billion, all of it generated by power sales. The utility is spending $2.6 billion over 11 years - roughly $1 out of every $30 paid by customers - to reduce fossil plant emissions through 2010.

By the time the projects are complete, Shipp said, TVA should realize 75 percent reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions and 85 percent reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions at those plants.

That's not as impressive as it sounds, according to Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a frequent TVA critic.

"The reality is, over half of TVA's coal-fired power plants won't have the best available controls, even after 2010," Smith said.

Smith said TVA has 59 boilers at 11 fossil plants. By his reckoning, by 2010 the utility will have both scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction systems on 18 boilers and SCRs only on seven others. That leaves 34 boilers without high-tech emission-reduction technologies, Smith said.

Smith said the North Carolina lawsuit could force TVA to do more to reduce emissions.

"Unless there is a legally binding requirement for them to clean these power plants up, they won't go beyond what they are legally required to do," Smith said.

North Carolina officials have been aggressive on both the legislative and legal fronts in battles over clean air regulations.

In 2002, the North Carolina legislature enacted the Clean Smokestacks Act to reduce emissions at coal-fired plants inside the state's borders.

Cooper also filed a petition with the EPA in March of this year, asking the agency to force Tennessee and 12 other states to reduce power plant emissions.

Scott Barker may be reached at 865-342-6309.