Sierra Club settles six-year score with consent agreement over MidAmerican Energy power plant emissions

It took six years, but the Sierra Club of Iowa Tuesday (1/22) settled a long-standing score with MidAmerican Energy over air emissions from the utility's coal-fired power plants.

Six years ago, the Sierra Club sued MidAmerican Energy in federal court alleging the utility violated air quality permit regulations at its newest 790-megawatt coal-fired generating unit in the Council Bluffs Energy Center.

But before that lawsuit could get off the ground, the Iowa Attorney General's Office (representing the Iowa Department of Natural Resources) stepped into the dispute, filing a similar lawsuit in state court over the same air quality permit violations alleged by the Sierra Club.

That same day it filed the suit in Pottawattamie County, the Attorney General' Office settled the case with the utility agreeing to a small $27,500 fine and an admission that it failed to obtain 10 air quality permits for pollution control equipment at the plant and for operating those pollution control units without permits. Those violations MidAmerican admitted to, according to the settlement, "were unintentional."

With the court settlement between the state and MidAmerican in place, the Sierra Club three months later moved to dismissed the lawsuit in September 2007.

"Because defendant's (MidAmerican Energy) settlement with the state was intended to prejudice Sierra Club in this case, because it purports to contain the bare minimum for a valid claim of 'res judicata' of only those claims filed by defendant, Sierra Club hereby dismissal (sic) is without prejudice in order to pursue additional claims in the future," the Sierra Club concluded in its motion for dismissal.

That "future" came Monday when the Sierra Club again filed suit in federal court against MidAmerican Energy for alleged violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act at three coal-fired power plants: Riverside Generating Station in Bettendorf; Neal Energy Center units 3 and 4 near Sergeant Bluff; and the Council Bluffs Energy Center (now known as the Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center) unit 3.

This time around, however, the Sierra Club had already worked out a consent agreement with the utility. Negotiations had been ongoing since the organization notified MidAmerican of its intent to file suit last July.

Under the consent agreement, the utility agreed to:

• Install baghouses (to collect particulate emissions) on units 3 and 4 of the George Neal Station by Dec. 31, 2014.
• Cease burning coal in boilers 1 and 2 of Neal Energy Center North ( 418-megawatts of capacity), boilers 1 and 2 at Walter Scott Energy Center (118-megawatts of capacity) and boilers 7, 8 and 9 of Riverside Generating Station (137 megawatts of capacity) on or before April 16, 2016.
• Fund the installation of a photovoltaic electric generating system at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines to demonstrate use of the renewable energy technology.
• Pay $35,000 in legal fees to the Sierra Club.

The Sierra Club agreed to:

• Withdraw its efforts to obtain MidAmerican Energy documents and information related to its coal-fired units from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) until the end of the decree's duration in 2016, and return to MidAmerican all documents obtained from the EPA under the organization's Freedom of Information request.
• Refrain from participating in any regulatory proceeding involving MidAmerican which conflicts with the agreement, and not fund any citizen groups or government agency participation in such proceedings.
• Forego submitting comments or objections to any regulatory agency regarding Title V permit (air quality) or permit renewal for the Walter Scott Energy Center, and the Neal, Riverside and Louisa Generating Stations during the term of the decree. (The group is permitted to submit comments, file petitions, object or otherwise oppose any pre-construction permit which MidAmerican might seek to expand or increase generation at those site.)

MidAmerican's news release on the settlement was decidedly upbeat saying the company choose to settle with the Sierra Club "to avoid costs to its customers, unnecessary delays, and ongoing uncertainty associated with litigation."

"MidAmerican Energy has been and remains in compliance with the law," the company's news release said. "MidAmerican Energy consistently and fully reports its environmental performance to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which reviews the reports and determines whether it is appropriate to pursue enforcement against MidAmerican Energy’s plants. The Iowa DNR has not pursued enforcement against any of MidAmerican Energy’s plants," the utility news release stated.

MidAmerican said it would continue to operate its Riverside Station in Bettendorf using natural gas and is evaluating the use of other fuels, including natural gas, to continue operations at the Neal units 1 and 2 and the Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center units 1 and 2.