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Sierra Club Continues Fight Against Proposed Wyoming Coal Plant
Case Updates:
February 13, 2009
On January 29, 2009, Sierra Club took another step in its campaign to encourage Wyoming to move beyond coal by challenging the proposed Two Elk plant in federal court. Although Two Elk Generation Partners initially received an air permit in 1998 and has since received roughly $450 million in tax-exempt bonds from the state, the company has not begun any meaningful construction. Sierra Club's challenge aims to hold Two Elk accountable for its continued reliance on a permit that has long expired by the terms of the Clean Air Act.
The air permit that Two Elk relies on is now over a decade old and has not been updated to take into account new pollution control technologies for a facility that will spew an estimated three million tons of carbon dioxide and thousands of tons of other air pollutants each year. Since the Two Elk coal plant was permitted, two other coal-fired facilities have begun construction in Campbell County, adding significantly to the county’s overall pollutant load - but this information has not been taken into account by the state.
Rather than granting further support to a dirty coal-fired facility with outdated pollution control technologies, Sierra Club is urging Wyoming to invest in cleaner, more efficient energy alternatives, in an area where the potential for wind power is great.
To learn more, read Sierra Club’s press release here.
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