Guardians Files Suit to Safeguard Clean Air, Climate from Utah Coal-fired Power Plant

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 23 Years Behind in Oversight

Denver—A lawsuit filed today by WildEarth Guardians aims to rein in air pollution at the 500-megawatt Bonanza coal-fired power plant in northeastern Utah, which for years has escaped regulation under the Clean Air Act.

“This is about securing critical checks on a dangerous source of dirty energy pollution,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardian’s Climate and Energy Program Director.  “We can’t afford any more delay when it comes to making sure the Bonanza power plant is doing everything it should be doing to protect our clean air.”

The Bonanza Power Plant is a 30 year-old, 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant located southeast of Vernal, Utah in a region often referred to as the “Uinta Basin.”  Located on the Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation, air pollution from the plant is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Every year, the plant spews more than 3.5 million of tons of harmful air pollution from a 600-foot smokestack, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other toxic compounds such as mercury.

At the same time, the Uinta Basin has been choking on smog.  Monitors in the region, including in Vernal, have registered concentrations of ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of urban smog, that have frequently surpassed federal health standards.  In early 2013, health standards were exceeded for more than 20 days.  The smog levels were higher than those recorded in Los Angeles.

Guardians suit, filed by Melissa Hailey of the firm, Antonio, Bates, and Bernard Professional Corporation, challenges the failure of the EPA to issue or deny a Clean Air Act “operating permit.”  The largest and dirtiest sources of air pollution are legally prohibited from polluting without an “operating permit.”  They are like user’s manuals, explaining how the polluter must operate to comply with clean air laws.  Critically, they ensure greater monitoring and transparency, giving the public an opportunity to scrutinize, if necessary, enforce violations.

The EPA was required under the Clean Air Act to ensure the Bonanza plant had an operating permit as of 1990.  Yet nearing 2014, the coal-fired power plant continues to operate without a legally valid permit, even though the plant’s owner—Deseret Power—applied for one in 2002 and again in 2012.

In the meantime, mounting evidence indicates the Bonanza power plant is not operating in compliance with the Clean Air Act.  In 2012, WildEarth Guardians formally notified Deseret Power of thousands of violations at the plant.  Unfortunately, without an operating permit, there is no assurance these violations will be corrected and that the plant will actually operate in compliance with the Clean Air Act.

Where an “operating permit” cannot assure that a source will operate in compliance with the Clean Air Act, the EPA must deny the permit.  A permit denial would force the Bonanza plant to shutdown.

“With no operating permit, the Bonanza coal-fired plant is freely polluting in violation of the Clean Air Act, putting the region’s health and environment at risk,” said Nichols.  “The EPA has to stop dragging its feet and either issue a permit that safeguards our clean air or shuts down Bonanza.”

Guardians suit today challenges the EPA over its failure to take legally required action on the Bonanza operating permit.  The complaint, was filed in federal court in Denver, Colorado, where the EPA Regional Office charged with taking action is headquartered, seeks an order compelling issuance or denial of the permit within 30 days.

WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the wildlife, wild rivers, and wild places of the American West.  Through its Climate and Energy Program, the organization works to safeguard clean air from fossil fuels.  Guardians has offices throughout the West, including in Salt Lake City.


 

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