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WildEarth Guardians Files Suit Against Lamar, Colorado Coal-fired Power Plant
WildEarth Guardians Files Suit Against Lamar, Colorado Coal-fired Power Plant
Lawsuit to Protect Citizens from Toxic Air Pollution
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x1303
DENVER-WildEarth Guardians today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the coal-fired power plant in Lamar, Colorado to protect public health from toxic air pollution and prevent the facility from starting up. The group is represented by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Environmental Law Clinic.
The lawsuit charges Lamar Light and Power and the Arkansas River Power Authority with ignoring Clean Air Act requirements limiting emissions of toxic substances like mercury from coal-fired power plants. The utilities are moving to start up a new coal-fired power plant, called the Lamar Repowering Project, located in the middle of Lamar, without the proper controls necessary to protect public health.
“Despite the public health risks, Lamar Light and Power and the Arkansas River Power Authority are moving ahead to illegally fire up a new coal-fired power plant in the middle of Lamar,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “This lawsuit makes a simple request: that a federal judge order these utilities to follow the law and do what’s required to keep the community safe.”
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that has contaminated the fish in 20% of Colorado’s lakes and reservoirs and is especially dangerous to unborn children. The Lamar coal-fired power plant is projected to release 38 pounds of mercury every year, roughly equal to the amount in more than 38,000 household thermometers. According to the EPA, just one household thermometer is enough to contaminate the fish in a lake with a surface area of 20 acres.
The Lamar coal-fired power plant previously burned natural gas, which releases little toxic air pollution. Lamar Light and Power, with financing from the Arkansas River Power Authority, was granted a permit to convert the natural gas-fired power plant to coal in 2007. The plant has since been under intense scrutiny by many citizens in Lamar. Last November, more than 300 petition signatures were submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, and others calling for plans to operate the coal-fired power plant to be abandoned.
Once fired up, Lamar coal-fired power plant air pollution permit shows the facility will release a number of toxic pollutants. In addition to mercury, the plant will release:
367 pounds of benzene, a known carcinogen;
670 pounds of cyanide compounds
20,945 pounds of hydrochloric acid;
983 pounds of selenium compounds; and
5,047 pounds of sulfuric acid, among other toxic pollutants.
Under the Clean Air Act, toxic air emissions, including mercury, have to be limited using up-to-date control technologies. These limits are required to be established through a permit before construction of a source of air pollution begins.
In the case of the Lamar coal-fired power plant, Lamar Light and Power and the Arkansas River Power Authority started construction in 2007, yet never obtained a permit limiting toxic emissions with modern controls. In the meantime, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that coal-fired power plants that started construction as early as 2005 were required to limit their toxic air pollution through a permit. In a July 2009 letter, the Environmental Protection Agency informed Lamar Light and Power and the Arkansas River Power Authority that they were required to secure toxic air pollution limits.
In November, WildEarth Guardians put Lamar Light and Power and Arkansas River Power Authority on notice of the Clean Air Act violations. Despite this notice, the utilities have continued their efforts to bring the Lamar coal-fired power plant online, asserting that they are in compliance with clean air laws and spurring the current lawsuit.
With modern controls, mercury could be reduced by 95% or more from the smokestack of the Lamar coal-fired power plant. Despite the need to limit mercury and other toxic emissions, Lamar Light and Power and Arkansas River Power Authority are continuing to move forward with operating the power plant.
Citizens can file suit against polluters for violating the Clean Air Act. Under the law, Lamar Light and Power and the Arkansas River Power Authority could be penalized as much as $37,500 for every day that construction and operation of the plant has occurred in violation. The companies face more than $30,000,000 in total potential penalties.
The University of Denver, the oldest private university in the Rocky Mountain region, enrolls approximately 11,409 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers of the American West.