Environmental Groups Appeal Planned Power Plant
AVENAL (AP) — Environmental groups are appealing the Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a natural gas-fueled power plant in the San Joaquin Valley.
The appeal, filed Thursday with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenges the EPA's granting of an air pollution permit which would exempt Avenal Power Center, LLC from current air quality standards.
The permit authorizes the building and operation a 600-megawatt plant near the rural communities of Avenal and Kettleman City, which already has some of the most polluted air in the country.
The area, 70 miles from Fresno, also houses the biggest toxic waste dump in the West.
The environmental groups say the plant won't have to meet air pollution requirements adopted in 2009 for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions because the EPA took too long to process its application.
(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press)
