Environmental activists determined to
stop Xcel Energy from expanding its Comanche coal-fired power
plant in Pueblo took their concerns to court Thursday.
Clean Energy Action and Citizens for Clean Air and Water in
Pueblo filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Department of
Public Health and the Environment, claiming the air-quality
permit the agency issued to Xcel last month violated state
law. The 11-page complaint was filed in Pueblo County District
Court.
"We're
fundamentally challenging the construction of a coal plant in
an environment where there are better solutions," said Dan
Friedlander, a Boulder member of Clean Energy Action. "It's
not just a question of right and wrong — government
regulations were ignored."
The new $1.35 billion plant would generate 750 megawatts,
enough electricity for 750,000 customers on a given day. Xcel
has said the plant is needed to meet the growing demand of
electricity because Colorado residents are using 15 percent
more energy than they did a decade ago. Critics have
maintained that the plant will add to the greenhouse gases
blamed for global warming and questioned whether it will help
all customers.
At issue in the lawsuit are claims that the state health
department didn't investigate violation notices issued by the
Environmental Protection Agency to the plant's two existing
units, critics said. Failing to do that, the department didn't
comply with Clean Air Act regulations on reducing emissions of
certain pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides, activists said.
But Doug Benevento, head of the health department, brushed
off the allegation, saying that's all it is and said they
would "rigorously defend" the air-quality permit.
"We're confident that we have a permit that was legally
issued and will reduce emissions in Pueblo," he said. "In the
event that this unfortunate lawsuit were to win, it would have
the opposite effect and increase emissions there."
The complaint comes after a deal was hammered out in
January by Xcel with environmental groups that have long
fought the plant's expansion. Those groups included the Sierra
Club, Boulder's Western Resource Advocates, Southwest Energy
Efficiency Project and the city of Boulder.
The deal requires the energy giant to spend up to $196
million to reduce the demand for power at peak times by 320
megawatts.
Margaret Barber, of Citizens for Clean Air and Water in
Pueblo, said she and other members are not opposed to that
agreement or any future negotiations, but this is a case where
the state didn't follow the law.
"The overriding issue is that the department of public
health, which is responsible for protecting the health and
welfare of the citizens of Colorado, did not do its job," she
said. "They have to at least do that."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Kim Castleberry at
(303) 473-1360 or
castleberryk@dailycamera.com.
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