Description: Challenge to Tennessee Valley Authority decisions to retire coal-fired units and build natural gas plant.
-
Kentucky Coal Association, Inc. v. Tennessee Valley Authority
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/23/2015 Opinion Download Opinion issued. Sixth Circuit Upheld Kentucky Coal Plant’s Switch to Natural Gas. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) decision to replace coal-fired electric generating units with natural gas-powered units at a Kentucky power plant. The court said that the TVA acted within its discretion when it determined, based on an environmental assessment, that switching to natural gas would not have a significant impact on the environment. The court found that the TVA had taken a hard look at 19 environmental issues, including climate change. The court was not persuaded by arguments made by the plaintiff, Kentucky Coal Association, including a contention that the TVA had not considered the cumulative impacts of building a natural gas pipeline, that the TVA prejudged the switch to natural gas, and that switching to natural gas would have “devastating socioeconomic effects.” The court also said that the TVA’s actions were not arbitrary and did not violate the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. -
Kentucky Coal Association, Inc. v. Tennessee Valley Authority
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 02/03/2015 Memorandum Opinion and Order Download Memorandum opinion and order issued granting summary judgment to TVA. The court granted summary judgment to TVA. TVA’s National Environmental Policy Act procedures provide that a new power generating facility usually requires an environmental impact statement (EIS), but the court agreed with TVA that it had discretion to determine whether an EIS was warranted in a particular case. In this case, TVA determined there would be no major environmental impacts, and that there would in fact be environmental benefits, including significant benefits to regional air quality, a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, reductions in water withdrawals and heated discharges into the Green River, and reduction of the production of coal combustion waste. The court upheld all the challenged aspects of TVA’s review. It rejected claims that TVA failed to consider the importance of the availability of an adequate supply of electricity at a reasonable price and that it did not consider the significant employment impacts if the facility stopped burning coal. The court also concluded that the assessment of impacts did not improperly segment the decommissioning of the coal-fired units (which the court characterized as a “too speculative” possibility) or the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline (the impacts of which the court determined TVA had assessed to the extent possible). Nor was the court persuaded by plaintiffs’ contentions that TVA had understated emissions of greenhouse gases from natural gas, that it arrived at a predetermined outcome, or that it had used an improper no action alternative. The court also determined that TVA’s decisionmaking regarding least-cost planning under the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 was not arbitrary and capricious. Plaintiffs have appealed the court’s judgment to the Sixth Circuit. 07/10/2014 Complaint Download Complaint filed. A group of plaintiffs that included Kentucky landowners and a nonprofit organization representing eastern and western Kentucky coal mining operations commenced a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Western District of Kentucky alleging that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act when it decided to retire coal-fired electric generating units and replace them with a new combustion turbine/combined cycle natural gas plant at a facility in Muhlenberg County in Kentucky. Plaintiffs alleged that TVA was required to prepare an environmental impact statement for its action, rather than relying on an environmental assessment. They contended that “viewed holistically” the switch to natural gas would have more significant adverse environmental impacts than upgrading emission controls on the existing coal units, including impacts associated with building new facilities and natural gas pipelines. Plaintiffs alleged that TVA had inappropriately elevated consideration of carbon dioxide emissions and related air quality issues above other environmental impacts “in an attempt to ‘comply’ with President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which lacks force of law.” Plaintiffs further alleged that TVA’s evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions was deficient because it did not consider emissions from the entire life cycle of natural gas production. The suit also alleged that TVA failed to adhere to its obligation under the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 to conduct least-cost planning.