Victories

These are victories for everyone who breathes air and drinks water. Plains Justice works equally hard to create a just transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit us all.

March 2009: Alliant Energy cancels Marshalltown, IA coal plant

Alliant Energy (Interstate Power & Light) has cancelled its plans to build a new coal-fired power plant near Marshalltown, IA. Alliant stated in a press release that after the cancellation, the company would focus on wind energy, energy efficiency, and reducing environmental emissions. Plains Justice wishes Alliant much success with this new focus, which can bring good clean energy jobs to Iowa.

February 2009: North Dakota Public Service Commission takes step toward better enforcement of mining laws

The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) said on February 11 that GTL Energy must respond within 20 days to a complaint filed in January 2009 on behalf of landowners and the non-profit group Dakota Resource Council. Written by Plains Justice, the complaint asks the PSC to require a surface mining permit for GTL Energy’s coal preparation plant being built near South Heart, North Dakota. The permit would require the facility to meet operating and reclamation standards, so, for instance, the area would be restored when the plant reaches the end of its useful life and is shut down. Hundreds of coal processing plants across the country are regulated under surface mining law.

January 2009: Iowa DNR regulators to restart coal ash rulemaking process

After Plains Justice sounded the alarm, investigative reporting in the Des Moines Register and subsequent public outcry, the Iowa DNR has decided to go forward with a rulemaking process to protect Iowa’s water from coal ash contamination. In late 2008, Plains Justice discovered that due to industry pressure, the DNR had backed away from a previous commitment to require sanitary landfill-style liners for coal ash disposal sites. More information on the public-health hazards of coal ash is available in our Coal Combustion Waste report.

January 2009: LS Power withdraws Waterloo, Iowa coal plant proposal

Plains Justice was founded in late 2006 in part in response to this threat to the quality of life and environmental sustainability of eastern Iowa and our precious global ecosystem. LS Power backed away from the proposed project less than one week after losing its financial partner, Dynegy Inc., which announced on January 2 that it would not continue a coal development joint venture. We congratulate the Waterloo community on its great victory and thank LS Power and Dynegy for making responsible decisions. However, the same financial risks that led to the withdrawal of the Waterloo coal plant proposal still apply to the proposed Marshalltown coal plant. We urge the Iowa Utilities Board to refuse to allow Alliant Energy to pass those financial risks to Iowa ratepayers.

December 2008: U.S. State Department extends public comment period for Keystone XL pipeline

The State Department took action after Plains Justice, Dakota Resource Council, Dakota Rural Action, Northern Plains Resource Council, and Western Organization of Resource Councils asked for a time extension so that farmers, ranchers, and other landowners would have time to write comments on the project’s Presidential Permit application. Due to poor public notification, very few of the property owners along the 1,375 mile proposed route of the pipeline through the U.S. even knew a 30-day public comment period was underway, much less that they would have to contact the State Department and ask that a CD be mailed to them if they wanted to see the permit application.

May 2008: Coal Plant Near Theodore Roosevelt National Park Withdrawn by Developer

According to the May 20, 2008 announcement:

“Westmoreland Power Inc. has been developing a 500-megawatt electric power station near Gascoyne, in Bowman County. The company is a unit of Westmoreland Coal Co., which owns coal reserves in the area. Westmoreland Coal’s executive chairman, Keith Alessi, says uncertainty about future carbon dioxide regulations has slowed the development of coal plants. He says the company cannot predict when it will start construction of a Gascoyne plant or find a long-term customer for its electric power. The company is repaying $562,500 in state aid it got for the project. It’s been in the works for about seven years.”

In partnership with Dakota Resource Council, Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, the National Parks Conservation Association and other great allies, Plains Justice has been fighting this plant for over a year, filing extensive comments twice with the North Dakota Department of Health to emphasize the flaws in this dirty coal proposal 50 miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in southwestern North Dakota. The proposal was for a circulating fluidized bed lignite coal boiler. Earlier in 2008 we received a 280 GB hard drive from the National Park Service in response to a Freedom of Information Act request regarding NPS’s adverse impact determination on this plant. With the assistance of an expert witness, opponents crunched the data and argued that issuing this flawed permit would compromise protections for all national parks. The final permit had not yet issued.

March 2008: Iowa Utilities Board Orders “Improper” Argument Stricken from Alliant Brief on Marshalltown Coal Plant

A March 21, 2008 order from the Iowa Utilities Board finds that Alliant Energy’s Iowa subsidiary improperly included evidence outside the factual record and strikes portions of three pages of Alliant’s initial brief in support of its Marshalltown coal plant application. The IUB also found that Alliant “may not have been as forthcoming as it should have been” in responding to Plains Justice’s and the Office of Consumer Advocate’s discovery requests regarding CO2 mitigation. This order comes in response to a Plains Justice motion to dismiss based on Alliant’s post-hearing attempt to introduce evidence of a few small CO2 reduction projects that Alliant claims will offset its share of the Marshalltown plant. Plains Justice argued that opponents’ due process rights were violated by Alliant’s misconduct.

March 2008: Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) takes only 2 days to reject LS Power’s application for air quality permits

for a proposed 750 megawatt coal plant at Waterloo, Iowa. This victory is due in large part to the phenomenal advocacy work done by a team of local, unpaid grassroots advocates who want clean air and clean energy for their descendants. Plains Justice has worked closely with the community to challenge illegal actions by the City of Waterloo. Our efforts resulted in the withdrawal of an illegal rezoning that was ultimately the reason why IDNR denied LS Power the air quality permits: the land is still zoned agricultural. We are fighting for it to stay that way.

October 2007: Iowa City Development Board Rejects Annexation Request for Proposed Waterloo Coal Plant

At an October 11 meeting, Iowa’s state planning authority, the City Development Board, rejected the City of Waterloo’s request to annex several hundred acres for New Jersey’s LS Power to build a 750MW coal plant. This decision resulted from the collective efforts of hundreds of local residents to bring problems with the annexation and coal plant proposal to the attention of the Board. At a public hearing in Waterloo on September 12, Plains Justice represented Community Energy Solutions by leading a joint presentation by 16 concerned residents and filing a brief on legal problems with the proposed annexation. The Sierra Club also made comments and filed a brief. This tremendous group effort resulted in a decision that may be a death knell for the Waterloo plant, but it’s a little too soon to celebrate. We expect more maneuvering from LS Power, and we will be ready.

September 2007: Coal Investors Back Out in South Dakota; Hundreds of Iowans Speak Out Against Coal

Subsequent to Dakota Resource Council’s intervention in opposition to a South Dakota coal plant proposal called “Big Stone II”, two of the seven utility investors (representing over 25% of the total 630MW project) pulled out this month. Regulatory proceedings are currently on hold while remaining investors decide how to respond. Plains Justice represented Dakota Resource Council in the North Dakota intervention. Partner organizations like Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and South Dakota Clean Water Action have also worked hard for this victory.

In Waterloo, Iowa, site of a proposed 750MW coal plant, over 500 locals rallied on September 9th in support of century farm owner Merle Bell, whose farm would be at the center of the coal plant. Later that week, hundreds came to the Waterloo Center for the Arts to plead with state planning officials not to approve the annexation of the plant site into the City of Waterloo as the developers have requested. The state’s decision has been postponed until the October meeting in light of the large amount of information to consider. Plains Justice represented local advocates, briefed the legal issues, and organized a formal presentation for the state board with 15 local speaker representatives.

August 2007: North Dakota Developers Withdraw South Heart Coal Plant Proposal

In North Dakota, developers of the proposed 500MW South Heart plant have withdrawn their application for air quality permits from the state Department of Health. Strong pressure from advocates for enforcement of the Clean Air Act made a difference! However, the developers say that they’ll be back with an updated proposal.

July 2007: Waterloo City Council Zoning Decision Challenged; Developers Forced to Iowa City Development Board Proceedings

Waterloo (Iowa) City Council moved a little too hastily in rezoning the Black Hawk County land where New Jersey’s LS Power wants to site a 750 megawatt coal plant. The Council annexed the land over the impassioned protests of local grassroots activists and farmer Merle Bell, who stands to lose his century farm if the plant is built. Where there is a nonconsenting owner, land annexations by a city must go to Iowa’s City Development Board for review. In its eagerness to assist LS Power, the Council ignored that cumbersome step and rezoned the land without even the usual three-reading process.

Plains Justice pro bono attorney Jana Linderman challenged that action on behalf of Merle Bell in Black Hawk County District Court. Now LS Power has applied to the City Development Board for approval of the annexation, a process that will require a public hearing and perhaps even a local vote on the annexation. Apparently the developers had hoped to put off this procedure until all permits were in place, to put extra pressure on the City Development Board. This early hearing by the CDB is a big victory for local advocates, who can now make their voices heard in another forum, at a time when the plant can still be stopped.

May 2007: Carbon Regulation Testimony Admitted in North Dakota Power Plant Siting Proceeding

Plains Justice represents intervenors Dakota Resource Council and Mark Trechock in a proceeding before the North Dakota Public Service Commission related to the construction of a major new coal-fired power plant in eastern South Dakota called Big Stone II. The intervenors want to bring expert testimony about the anticipated cost of carbon regulation, but there’s a North Dakota statute (NDCC 49-02-23) that bars the Commission from considering the anticipated cost of any future environmental law or regulation. In a hearing on April 24, 2007, we won a ruling from an administrative law judge allowing us to submit testimony that doesn’t explicitly attach numerical cost or quantified value to carbon impacts, as barred by the statute. This leaves us significant latitude. We also have leave to submit an offer of proof to the Commission of numeric cost and quantified value evidence that is explicitly barred by the statute, to preserve the evidence in the record for appeal.

The Applicants’ motion was to exclude all testimony on environmental externalities as defined under the statute, which is extremely broad and could have been interpreted to prevent us from presenting our expert witness at all. This is a win! The hearing before the Commission is now scheduled for June 26-28 in Bismarck.