Posted: Monday, March 3, 2008 12:00 am
GILLETTE (AP) - The state Environmental Quality Council has dismissed a request by environmentalists to reconsider a decision allowing construction of a coal-fired power plant.
The Sierra Club and Powder River Basin Resource Council had sought a new hearing on a November council decision allowing construction of the Two Elk plant southeast of Wright.
Also last fall, the groups filed suit in state District Court in Cheyenne. The lawsuit asked the court to reverse a decision allowing an air permit for the power plant.
Terri Lorenzon, director of the Environmental Quality Council, said Thursday that the court, not the council, now has jurisdiction over the matter because of the lawsuit.
"They're the ones who picked that route, so we didn't deal with the substance of the motions at all," Lorenzon said.
Two Elk has had its original permit extended several times since it was first issued in 1997. The Sierra Club objects to the repeated extensions, saying construction hasn't progressed sufficiently.
The Sierra Club nationwide has pledged to object to all coal-fired power plants.
"Our goal is to oppose these projects at each and every stage, from zoning and air and water permits, to their mining permits and new coal railroads," Bruce Nilles, a Sierra Club attorney who directs the group's national coal campaign, has said.
The state Department of Environmental Quality revoked the plant's air quality permit in August after determining that North American Power Group hadn't completed any construction over the previous two years, as the permit required.
But on Nov. 21, department Director John Corra reversed the decision, citing "confidential business information and other documents." The information had to do with the demolition of an oil and gas well and pipeline, construction of an access road and contracts with suppliers and PacifiCorp, which will provide power lines the site.
Using Corra's determination, the council reversed its decision Dec. 3, allowing Two Elk to continue to build.
The groups said Corra's determination did not "describe any physical, onsite construction of the Two Elk plant." The Sierra Club also objects to what it says are outdated, 10-year-old air pollution reduction measures provided for in the original permit, according to Reed Zars, a Sierra Club attorney.
But Brad Enzi, vice president of governmental affairs for North American Power Group, said Two Elk has made progress. He said the company has been building a more than mile-long road to the site since last summer.
The Sierra Club last month petitioned the Industrial Siting Council to revoke Two Elk's industrial siting permit. The group said in its petition that construction delays prevent "rational community planning."
The document allows the plant to be built and operated.