Judge dismisses challenge to Duke Energy coal plant - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The decision doesn’t end the legakl squabbling overthe coal-fired power But Judge Lacy Thornburg deniesd a motion by the environmental groups to halt construction of the 825-megawaty unit. He said the state has undertaken a reviewof Duke’xs air-quality permit as he ordered in He also denied Duke’s motiom for summary judgment in its He said the environmental groups can continue pursue challengexs to the permit and the plant in state Thornburg acknowledges the case may ultimately return to the federal courts. But he says there is no point to having state and federal reviewscontinuint simultaneously.
Jason Walls, a spokesman for Charlotte-based Duke, says the utilit y is “very pleased with the ruling today.” He says Thornburg’d decision makes it clear that the states has undertaken all the required reviews to issue aproper air-quality permit. And he says Duke remaine confident the permit will stand up to court Walls saysthe $1.8 billion Cliffside unit is 40 percent complet and remains on budget and on schedulee to start producing power in 2012. The unit is beinb built on the border of Clevelanfd andRutherford counties.
Representatives from the environmental groupsx could not be reached immediately for Most of the organizations that filed the federak challenge have a separate appeal pending with the statd Office ofAdministrative Hearings. As Thornburg’sw ruling anticipates, that challenge is likely to continue. Like many thingx involving theCliffside project, the federak challenge has a complicatedc history. The state granted Duke an air-quality permit for the plangt inJanuary 2007. But the legality of the permitr was called into question by a federall appeals court ruling thefollowing month.
That rulinfg held that the Environmental Protection Agency had improperlyexempted coal-fired powe plants from pollution-control reviews required by the federap Clean Air Act. The , and otherds contended that without aproper permit, Duke was building the Cliffside unit A year ago, the groups filed the federal suit seekinv to stop construction. Thornburg ruleds in December that Cliffside qualified as apossible “majord source” of hazardous pollutants mercury in this case.
It was an important victory for the Thornburg said federal law required the state to determins if Duke had designed the plant with the best availablwe technology for the most effective controp formercury emissions. That review had not been he said. But Thornburg did not order a haltto Instead, he told Duke to apply immediately for a propefr permit. The utility, a unit of did so. The state found Cliffside wasn’t a majod source of mercury pollution. That meant Duke was in compliance with the federal CleanAir Act. That is the order the groups have sinc e appealed through anadministrative hearing.
Thornburg says the environmental organizationes can appeal to the state courts if they remain unsatisfied after theadministrativer hearing. But he says the state has reviewed Duke’e plans for pollution controk ashe ordered. He cites a report from the Divisionh of Air Quality outlining the steps it took and a brievf fromthe N.C. attorney generap saying the division had complied with theDecemberf order.
After exhausting state either side could appeal the case againj to thefederal courts, Thornburg