Description: Challenge to air permits for new coal-fired unit at power plant in North Carolina.
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North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network, Inc. v. N.C. Department of Environment & Natural Resources
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/17/2012 Motion Download Motion to voluntarily dismiss claims with prejudice filed by petitioners. The organizations challenging the air permits for construction and operation of Cliffside Steam Station Unit 6, a new coal-fired unit at a North Carolina power plant, filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of their claims. They attached their settlement agreement with Duke Energy, in which Duke Energy agreed to shut down an amount of electric generating capacity beyond what was required by the permit. The organizations contended that the additional amount was necessary to make the new unit "carbon neutral" by 2018. 12/08/2010 Order Download Order issued on cross-motions for partial summary judgment. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) issued a mixed ruling on cross-motions for partial summary judgment. On the issue of whether carbon dioxide was "subject to regulation" under the Clean Air Act, leading to an obligation to conduct a best available control technology (BACT) analysis and set BACT emission limits, OAH found that the petitioners had failed to defend their claim. OAH therefore granted summary judgment to the Division of Air Quality and Duke Energy on this claim. 05/13/2009 Order An administrative law judge in the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings denied a power plant operator’s motion to dismiss environmentalists’ claims that state air regulators failed to consider carbon dioxide emissions in the air pollution permits issued to a proposed power plant in southwestern North Carolina in January 2009. The judge held that the petitioners had the right to demonstrate that carbon dioxide was a regulated pollutant under the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act.