Archive for Air Quality, Control & Rights
April 21, 2009
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Georgia Cities, Greenspace · Tagged EPA, Fort Valley, Fort Valley State University, John Stumbo, National Priority List, Stimulus, Superfund, Woolfork
There are sixteen contaminated sites in Georgia on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List. The site of the former Woolfork Chemical Plant outside Fort Valley will receive $5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to complete its clean-up.
Fort Valley Mayor Dr. John Stumbo:
The Woolfolk Chemical Plant started operations there in about 1924. They made agricultural pesticides that were arsenic lace. In those days, of course, there was no air conditioning and because of the heat, most of the mixing of this dry material was done in sheds that simply had a roof and no side walls. So, as the winds blew through there, it would carry this contaminated dust all over the area. The second company came in there in the 1970s, they were called Canada in Georgia, and they were doing the same thing.
The 31-acre Woolfork site sits close to downtown Fort Valley and near Fort Valley State University. This site has long been seen as the hope for revitalization of downtown Fort Valley. The Woolfork site was deemed eligible for the Superfund program in 1990. Since then more than $27 million has gone in to cleaning up the chemical contamination.
In the early 1980s, citizen complaints prompted the Georgia environmental officials to investigate Woolfolk amid allegations of discharge of waste products into a drainage corridor heading away from the site. No injuries have been reported but one lawsuit forced a former Woolfolk owner to reimburse residents for declining property values.
Today, according to the EPA, all excavation of arsenic from residential soil is complete, as well as the removal of arsennic contaminated dust from residential attics.
Fort Valley hopes this latest cash infusion will complete the cleanup of Woolfolk, fulfilling its promise of downtown revitalization.
Mayor Stumbo offers his take on Life After Superfund here.
January 2, 2009
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Recent Court Decisions · Tagged Coal Plant, Dynegy, Early County, Friends of Chattahoochee v. EPD, GreenLaw, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, Longleaf, Sierra Club
The proposal for a new coal power plant in Early County Coal appears to be dead. Dynegy Inc., the Texas-based energy company that proposed what would’ve been Georgia’s first new coal power plant in 20 years, announced today that it has pulled out of the project.
From a company press release:
Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with LS Power Associates, L.P. to dissolve the two companies’ development joint venture. Under the terms of the dissolution, Dynegy will acquire exclusive rights, ownership and developmental control of all repowering or expansion opportunities related to its existing portfolio of operating assets. LS Power will acquire full ownership and developmental rights associated with various “greenfield” projects under consideration in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada, as well as other power generation and transmission development projects not related to Dynegy’s existing operating portfolio of assets.
The reason?
The development landscape has changed significantly since we agreed to enter into the development joint venture with LS Power in the fall of 2006,” said Bruce A. Williamson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dynegy Inc. “Today, the development of new generation is increasingly marked by barriers to entry including external credit and regulatory factors that make development much more uncertain. In light of these market circumstances, Dynegy has elected to focus development activities and investments around our own portfolio where we control the option to develop and can manage the costs being incurred more closely.
Litigation over the proposed coal plant generated national headlines and new law when a Fulton County Superior Court Judge concluded Carbon Dioxide was regulated by the Clean Air Act. That decision remains on appeal before the Georgia Court of Appeals. It is unclear how the abandonment of the coal plant proposal will impact the pending litigation.
December 11, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Georgia Cities · Tagged Crematory, Snellville
There may be a end in sight for the continuing, continuing, continuing, and continuing crematory battle in Snellville. No deal yet and there remains division on the City Council, but the parties are exploring resolution.
The city attorney will have a recommendation within 60 days on whether to settle or “take our chances” in court.
October 16, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Georgia Cities · Tagged Crematory, Snellville
In the fight that keeps going and going and going, the Snellville Board of Appeals revoked the City’s issuance of certificates of occupancy and development conformance. By a vote of 3-2, the Board ruled that the building plan submitted by the crematory in 2006 differed substantially from the actual operation that opened in September, including the installation of a smokestack.
The Board overruled the city planning department, which judged earlier that the crematory was not substantially different from its original plans and issued the certificates.
The matter will go back to the City Council for a vote sometime in November.
September 27, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Georgia Cities · Tagged Air Pollution, Crematory, Jerry Oberholtzer, Kelly Kautz, Snellville
After losing the first and second rounds in the fight against the crematory, Snellville City Council member Kelly Kautz has introduced a proposed ordinance to prevent businesses such as hospitals and crematories —- one crematory in particular —- from polluting the air. The ordinance would place specific limits on mercury and dioxin/furan emissions for any incinerator of bodies, body parts or infectious wastes.
The proposed ordinance was modeled after a Pennsylvania ordinance, which was modeled after the Clean Air Act.
While the proposed ordinance excludes pre-existing facilities, but would prevent any air-polluting facilities within 300 yards of residential properties in Snellville and require businesses to self-monitor their emissions and report them to the city.
The proposal already faces opposition from within the City Council with Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer objecting to its introduction and first reading:
“The basis of the whole ordinance scares me because the person who wrote it has no experience in environmental law. She’s a trial lawyer,” Oberholtzer said. “What I understand is that she cut and pasted different ordinances together,” he added.
The proposal will be voted on at the October 13 meeting of the City Council at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Room of Snellville City Hall.
August 30, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Recent Court Decisions · Tagged Appeal, CO2, Coal Plant, Friends of Chattahoochee v. EPD, Fulton County, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, Longleaf, Sierra Club
The Georgia Court of Appeals has accepted the appeal of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore’s decision that the Georgia Air Quality Act and the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) regulate emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). A decision is not likely until early 2009.
August 26, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Georgia Cities · Tagged Crematory, Snellville
After weeks of delay, Snellville seems to have conceded that it has no legal right to stop a proposed crematorium. Faced with neighborhood opposition, the City Council had delayedissuing a business permit so it could conduct environmental studies. City Manager Russell Treadway spent two weeks researching the environmental impact of crematories and announced at the City Council meeting that he found no hard evidence that crematories are dangerous.
While conceding that the crematorium could legally open, the council did approve a new ordinance allowing city employees to regulate the emissions from crematories.
UPDATE: Here are the meeting minutes from the Council’s July 31 Meeting and August 25 Meeting. Seems the delay was not due to the environmental study. Instead, parking requirements seem to be the basis of the delay. There was a motion for an investigation regarding the crematory Certificate of Occupancy, zoning application, and subsequent permitting or any other issue was made, but failed 3-3. The city has the authority to call for an investigation into the “affairs of the city or conduct of any department, office, or agency”.
August 5, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Recent Court Decisions · Tagged Appeal, Clean Air Act, CO2, Coal Plant, Friends of Chattahoochee v. EPD, GreenLaw, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, Longleaf, Sierra Club
At its heart the question is whether the Georgia Air Quality Act and the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) regulate emission of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, the Friends of the Chattahoochee, Inc. and Sierra Club say YES.
Dr. Carol Couch, Director of the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Longleaf Energy Associates, LLC and a host of amici led by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and ranging from utility companies, local Chambers of Commerce, health care professionals, homebuilders, and politicans all say NO.
Applications for appeal have been filed with the Court of Appeals of Georgia, Longleaf Energy Associates v. Friends of the Chattahoochee, No. A08D0472 and Couch v. Friends of the Chattahoochee, No. A08D0473. The Appellate Court has until August 29 to decide whether to accept the appeal.
The appeals seek the complete reversal of Judge Moore and argue that Massachusetts v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could, not does regulate CO2 under the CAA. The contention is that Judge Moore jumped the gun and should have waited on the EPA to make the decision as to whether and how to regulate CO2.
Longleaf’s Application can be found here, EPD’s Application here, and the Amici Application here.
You can obtain a copy of Judge Moore’s decision here.
July 2, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Recent Court Decisions · Tagged Coal Plant, Friends of Chattahoochee v. EPD, GreenLaw, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, Longleaf, Sierra Club
Yesterday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore (who is not running for re-election after nearly 30 years on the bench) entered a final order in Friends of the Chattachooche, Inc. and Sierra Club v. Dr. Carol Couch, Director Environmental Protection Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Longleaf Energy Associates, LLC, Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, Civil Action File No. 2008CV146398, which effectively stops construction of the first coal-fired power plant proposed for Georgia in more than 20 years.
Judge Moore concluded that the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources must limit the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the plant by applying Massachusetts v. EPA, 127 S.Ct. 1438 (2007). This is the first time Massachusetts v. EPA has been used as authority to regulate CO2 from an industrial source rather than from motor vehicles. Judge Moore found that “there is no question CO2 is subject to regulation under [Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401 et seq.].”
This decision overturns an administrative court’s ruling that affirmed the EPD’s decision to issue an air pollution permit for the construction of the coal plant. Judge Moore concluded that the issuance of the permit was erroneous because the permit was issued without CO2 limitations based upon a “best available [pollution] control technology” [BACT] analysis.
The lawsuit was brought in June 2007 by GreenLaw attorneys representing the Friends of the Chattahoochee and the Sierra Cluband filed against the EPD and Longleaf Energy Associates, LLC. Longleaf had been issued allowing a 1200 megawatt coal-fired power plant to be built in Early County on the banks of the Chattahoochee River south of Columbus.
Longleaf has indicated it will appeal Judge Moore’s decision to the Court of Appeals of Georgia.
You can obtain a pdf of the Court’s Final Order here.
UPDATE: This decision is hot eliciting editorials from the AJC’s Jay Bookman, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and GreenLaw.
May 29, 2008
· Filed under Air Quality, Control & Rights, Cell & RadioTowers, Recent Court Decisions · Tagged Southeast Towers v. Pickens County
On May 13, 2008, the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia held that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA), 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., does not preempt state or local zoning powers so long as local governments (1) do not unreasonably discriminate among providers; (2) prohibit personal wireless services; or, (3) limit placement of wireless facilities based upon “environmental effects of radio frequency emissions.”
The Court held that a local zoning ordinance that established aesthetic-based guidelines for placement of wireless, cellular, television and radio telecommunications towers and antennas was a reasonable and proper exercise of local governments exercise of its zoning and police powers and was not preempted by TCA.
Keep reading for GZB’s summary of Southeast Towers, LLC v. Pickens County, United States District Court, Northern District, Gainesville Division, Civil Action File No. 2:06-CV-0172-RWS, decided May 13, 2008.
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