It's one thing when a coalition of environmental groups questions a big expansion of a coal-fired power plant in North Carolina. These watchdog groups have been vigilant about guarding this state's air quality. But when the Bush administration's National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency also weigh in with concerns about the adverse impact of Duke Energy's Cliffside plant expansion in Rutherford County, it's time to slow down.
The park service and the EPA are asking the state Division of Air Quality to reconsider a proposed permit for the Cliffside plant. Duke Energy, which already has withdrawn plans for a second new unit at Cliffside, proposes a new $1.8 billion coal-fired plant. It would replace four existing units more than a half-century old. The new plant, Duke says, would produce more than twice the power while emitting less pollution.
But the environmental groups, the National Park Service and the EPA are concerned that air quality in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as other areas of Western North Carolina would be adversely affected by the new plant. They believe the state should deny the permit for what might be the nation's last new coal-fired plant or at least revise the way it calculates emission limits for the new unit.
EPA has already sued Duke, arguing that modifications it made to eight generating plants should have included additional pollution controls. If the EPA wins, Duke probably would have to add additional pollution controls in order to meet tighter emission requirements.
"Considering the impacts of emissions from this plant upon Great Smoky Mountains [National Park], we believe that this enforcement issue must be resolved before your agency takes final action," wrote the National Park Service's John Bunyak, chief of policy, planning and permit review. The real-world effect of the new Cliffside plant, he said, "would be severe impacts upon air quality and air quality related values at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park."
Representatives of the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association had similar concerns. They wrote that the draft permit would allow construction of the new plant "without knowing the air quality impacts on the Park" and added, "What's more, the citizens of North Carolina who are paying for emission reductions at Cliffside and elsewhere under the Clean Smokestacks Act would be shortchanged."
These are valid concerns, and Gov. Mike Easley needs to take notice. It was Gov. Easley who helped push for creation of the Clean Smokestacks Act in the General Assembly. To now ignore the litigation that could force Duke Energy to impose additional controls is irresponsible -- and undermines the state's long campaign to force the Tennessee Valley Authority to clean up its power plant emissions that blow into North Carolina. That's one more reason to put the brakes on Cliffside.
