The Justice Department and federal environmental regulators announced Thursday that they reached a settlement with large coal utility Duke Energy for running 13 coal plants without proper federal permits and pollution controls.
Under the settlement, the company must permanently close 11 of the power plants cited in the lawsuit, which Duke had previously retired to comply with Environmental Protection Agency mercury and acid gas rules. The company cannot reopen them.
The two remaining plants will have to run with pollution-control systems, known as scrubbers.
Duke also will have to pay “at least” $4.4 million to fund environmental mitigation projects, including the replacement of stoves and fireplaces with cleaner energy options and energy-efficiency measures in distressed communities.
“Other projects may include efforts towards increasing truck stop electrification and electric vehicle charging stations in North Carolina,” the EPA said. That it is in addition to major spending to restore native wildlife habitat in North Carolina, where the suit was filed.
The EPA and federal prosecutors said the settlement “resolves long-standing claims that Duke violated the federal Clean Air Act by unlawfully modifying 13 coal-fired electricity generating units … without obtaining air permits and installing and operating the required air pollution control technologies.”
Under the federal air law, if a power plant is modified significantly it triggers an EPA review process in which new permits are required. At what point the review is triggered has been a issue of contention for decades.
On top of that, EPA approved new rules Aug. 3 for modified power plants under President Obama’s climate change agenda. The new rules would enforce reductions of carbon dioxide from new and modified plants. Carbon dioxide is considered by many scientists to be the leading cause of manmade global warming.
The settlement brings a long-standing suit that began nearly 15 years to a close, just before the parties were set to go to trial in October.
Thursday’s settlement affects only emissions of conventional acid gas pollutants, not carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. EPA says it will reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by 2 million tons per year.
Several environmental groups, including the North Carolina branch of the Sierra Club, were co-plaintiffs with EPA in the lawsuit.
The settlement was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.
