The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted properly in requiring stricter air pollution controls on several of North Dakota's largest coal-fired power plants, according to a ruling issued Monday (9/23) by the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The case involved the EPA's implementation of a federal plan to reduce power plant emissions which create haze at national parks, specifically the Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, ND, and the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge near Kenmare, ND.
"Although the state was free to employ its own visibility model and to consider visibility improvement in its reasonable progress determinations, it was not free to do so in a manner that was inconsistent with the CAA (Clean Air Act)," the court said. "Because the goal of section 169A (of the act) is to attain natural visibility conditions in mandatory Class I Federal areas, and EPA has demonstrated that the visibility model used by the state would serve instead to maintain current degraded conditions, we cannot say that EPA acted in a manner that was arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion by disapproving the state’s reasonable progress determination based upon its cumulative source visibility modeling."
While the ruling upheld the EPA's position on use of federal standards to reduce emissions at several North Dakota coal-fired generating stations, the court rejected arguments by environmental groups that the EPA should impose even more stringent emissions controls at four coal-burning units. The court also vacated EPA's air emission control plan for Great River Energy's Coal Creek Station – the state's largest at more than 1,200-megawatts – saying the agency should have considered the use of existing pollution control technology there.
CLICK HERE to download the complete appellate court ruling.
