Description: Challenge to PSD permits for new natural gas-fired turbines.
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In re Arizona Public Service Co. Ocotillo Power Plant
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 09/01/2016 Order Download Order issued denying review. Environmental Appeals Board Said Energy Storage Option Did Not Have To Be Considered at Outset of BACT Analysis for New Gas Turbines. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) upheld a PSD permit issued for the construction of five new natural gas-fired combustion turbines at a power plant in Tempe, Arizona. The EAB rejected petitioner Sierra Club’s contention that the Maricopa County Air Quality Department abused its discretion in conducting its greenhouse gas BACT analysis and in concluding that a control alternative that paired energy storage with combustion turbines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would impermissibly “redefine the source.” The EAB cautioned that its decision should not be read as “an automatic off-ramp for energy storage technology” as a consideration in Step 1 of future BACT analyses.