April, 25 2013, 03:22pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Abigail Dillen, Earthjustice (212) 845-7376, ext. 7378
Jenna Garland, Sierra Club, (404) 607-1262, ext. 222
Nathan Moore, Southern Environmental Law Center (615) 921-8013
Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6402
Kelly Poole, Tennessee Environmental Council, (615) 248-6500
Conservation Groups Challenge TVA's Expensive Decision on Gallatin Plant
Environmental impacts of retrofitting aging coal facility not addressed
Nashville, TN
Conservation groups have filed a legal challenge to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on the grounds that TVA violated the National Environmental Policy Act when the federal power company finalized its plan to spend more than one billion dollars to retrofit the Gallatin Fossil Plant, a coal-fired power plant near Nashville. The Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, Tennessee Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity are represented by Earthjustice and Southern Environmental Law Center in the suit. The Gallatin Fossil Plant is more than fifty years old and is one of the largest sources of air and water pollution in the state. If TVA's plans move forward, the coal-fired power plant will continue to pollute for decades to come.
"In its haste to spend more than one billion dollars of customer money to prop up an obsolete coal plant, TVA violated the law," said Louise Gorenflo, Beyond Coal chair of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club. "There is too much at stake for the Sierra Club and our partners to sit back and do nothing. The health and wellbeing of Tennessee's families, environment, and economy are at risk. That's why it is so important that TVA follow the law when making such important decisions."
To build the project, TVA would clear cut a forested Wildlife Management Area on Old Hickory Lake, replacing it with hundred-foot tall landfills of hazardous coal ash. TVA's plans will require the popular Cumberland River Aquatic Center to relocate; the Center is one of the world's most successful hatcheries of endangered freshwater mussels. Finally, by choosing to invest in an aging coal facility, TVA will increase costs for consumers over decades.
"Before filing today's challenge, these groups have used every other available option to urge TVA to comply with its legal obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act," said Nathan Moore, an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center's Tennessee office. "From formal written comments, to letters to TVA's staff and board, to a public appeal at TVA's March board meeting, these groups have pressed TVA to take a hard look at the environmental and economic consequences of this proposal before making a costly decision that poses significant threats to the health and welfare of Tennesseans."
The conservation groups involved in the suit have repeatedly called on TVA to switch to cleaner power sources, including energy efficiency, rather than sinking a billion dollars into its plan, but TVA refused to analyze other options and failed to include the public in its decision-making process. The lawsuit charges that TVA's failure to consider other options and involve the public violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the nation's bedrock environmental law.
"The decision to spend more than a billion dollars on a coal plant is a lost opportunity to invest in the clean energy solutions of the future," said Abigail Dillen, an attorney with Earthjustice, co-counsel on the case. "There is a choice here between helping and harming the environment, and TVA is making that choice without the benefit of meaningful environmental analysis. This case is about ensuring better decision making that takes advantage of lower cost, healthier alternatives to coal."
TVA has chosen to pursue its plans to spend more than $1 billion in spite of clear public opposition to the plan. Public Policy Polling conducted a poll of 600 Tennessee voters in February that found 73% of voters surveyed preferred TVA investing in an energy efficiency program to meet customers' energy needs, rather than spending more than one billion dollars to keep the Gallatin coal plant running past its prime. In addition, thousands of Tennesseans signed petitions and hundreds of Nashville area residents attended the People's Public Hearing in February, calling on TVA to reconsider its decision. TVA did not hold a public meeting to gather input from Tennessee residents and TVA ratepayers.
"My concerns are if there's "No Significant Impact" from the TVA Coal Plant retrofit, then why is the Wildlife Management Area being closed to store waste? With TVA embracing renewable energy, why are we spending a billion dollars to refit an outdated, fossil fuel plant when this money could be spent on up-to-date technology that leaves minimal impact on our environment?" asked Charlie Wilkerson, president of the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association.
"Tennessee is home to more kinds of freshwater fish and mussels than almost anywhere in the world. TVA's reckless decision to continue to burn coal puts these endangered species and the health of human communities at risk," said Tierra Curry, conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
"Our natural resources form the backbone of Tennessee's economy, quality of life, and heritage. We must work to ensure that decisions concerning the future of Tennessee citizens are not made lightly." said Kelly Poole, an attorney with the Tennessee Environmental Council.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice filed the groups' complaint in the federal district court in Nashville on Thursday morning. If the complaint is successful, TVA must finally fairly weigh the options before it rather than plowing ahead with its massive investment in the fifty four year-old Gallatin plant.
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
800-584-6460LATEST NEWS
In Blow to Koch and Exxon, Federal Judges Say Minnesota Climate Suit Belongs in State Court
"This ruling is a major victory for Minnesota's efforts to hold oil giants accountable for their climate lies, and a major defeat for fossil fuel companies' attempt to escape justice," said one advocate.
Mar 24, 2023
Minnesota on Thursday scored a significant procedural win in a lawsuit seeking to hold Big Oil accountable for lying to consumers about the dangers of burning fossil fuels and thus worsening the deadly climate crisis.
In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit agreed with a lower court that the state's climate fraud lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries can proceed in state court, where it was filed.
"This ruling is a major victory for Minnesota's efforts to hold oil giants accountable for their climate lies, and a major defeat for fossil fuel companies' attempt to escape justice," Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a statement.
"Big Oil companies have fought relentlessly to avoid facing the evidence of their climate fraud in state court, but once again judges have unanimously rejected their arguments," said Wiles. "After years of Big Oil's delay tactics, it's time for the people of Minnesota to have their day in court."
Fossil fuel corporations have known for decades that burning coal, oil, and gas generates planet-heating pollution that damages the environment and public health. But to prolong extraction and maximize profits, the industry launched a disinformation campaign to downplay the life-threatening consequences of fossil fuel combustion.
"Big Oil companies have fought relentlessly to avoid facing the evidence of their climate fraud in state court, but once again judges have unanimously rejected their arguments."
Dozens of state and local governments have filed lawsuits arguing that Big Oil's longstanding effort to sow doubt about the reality of anthropogenic climate change—and to minimize the fossil fuel industry's leading role in causing it—has delayed decarbonization of the economy, resulting in widespread harm.
Since 2017, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, along with 35 municipalities in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have sued fossil fuel giants in an attempt to hold them financially liable for misleading the public about the destructive effects of greenhouse gas emissions from their products.
"Minnesota is not the first state or local government to file this type of climate change litigation," the Eighth Circuit declared Thursday. "Nor is this the first time" that fossil fuel producers have sought to shift jurisdiction over such suits from state courts to federal court, where they believe they will be more likely to avoid punishment.
"But our sister circuits rejected them in each case," the federal appeals court continued. "Today, we join them."
According to the Center for Climate Integrity, "Six federal appeals courts and 13 federal district courts have now unanimously ruled against the fossil fuel industry's arguments to avoid climate accountability trials in state courts."
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice moved for the first time to support communities suing Big Oil by urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Exxon and Suncor Energy's request to review lower court rulings allowing a lawsuit from three Colorado communities to go forward in state court.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'He's Threatening Prosecutors With Violence': Trump Warns of 'Death and Destruction' If Indicted
"Trump got his supporters to attack the government once," said one ethics watchdog. "He's making it clear that if he's arrested, he's going to try to do it again."
Mar 24, 2023
Government watchdogs on Friday said former President Donald Trump has potentially placed himself in even more legal jeopardyafter he threatened violence if he's charged in a criminal case in New York.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that potentially "catastrophic" violence would result if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.
"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former president of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting president in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a crime, when it is known by all that NO crime has been committed, and also known that potential death and destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country?" Trump said.
He also called Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg "a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA."
Bragg's office has presented a grand jury with evidence related to alleged hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, years after the former president allegedly had a sexual relationship with Daniels.
Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said in 2018 that he made a $130,000 payment to Daniels. He was reimbursed in 2017 by the Trump Organization.
The former president has made several public statements about the case against him in recent days, saying last weekend that he expected to be indicted on Tuesday and calling for a "protest" in New York, and posting an image in social media on Thursday showing Trump holding a baseball bat next to Bragg's head.
His call for "death and destruction" is his most explicit statement about potential violence, said critics including government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"He's not being subtle, he's threatening prosecutors with violence... Trump got his supporters to attack the government once," said CREW, referring to Trump's encouragement of his supporters to attend the rally at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 that turned into a violent insurrection aimed at overturning his election loss. "He's making it clear that if he's arrested, he's going to try to do it again."
The group added that Trump's threats of violence "are admissible in court."
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) called on Republicans to clearly "condemn and oppose" Trump's calls for violence, to avoid another violent uprising in his defense.
"Donald Trump's incitement of violence is more direct, explicit, dangerous now than it was before January 6th," said Beyer. "Republican leaders cannot ignore this or wish it away."
According toThe Washington Post, the grand jury is next scheduled to meet on Monday at the earliest.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Minnesota Nuclear Plant Shuts Down After New Leak Near Mississippi River
Federal regulators said they are monitoring groundwater for a radioactive compound following the leak.
Mar 24, 2023
The operator of a Minnesota nuclear power plant said the facility would be taken offline Friday to repair a new leak near the Mississippi River, an announcement that came a week after the company and state officials belatedly acknowledged a separate leak that occurred in November.
Xcel Energy insisted in a statement Thursday that the leak at its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant poses "no risk to the public or the environment," but a team of federal regulators is monitoring the groundwater in the area amid concerns that radioactive materials—specifically tritium—could wind up in drinking water.
Valerie Myers, a senior health physicist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told a local CBS affiliate that "there are wells between the ones that are showing elevated tritium and the Mississippi that are not showing any elevated levels."
"We are watching that because the ground flow is toward the Mississippi," added Myers.
The Associated Pressreported Friday, that "after the first leak was found in November, Xcel Energy made a short-term fix to capture water from a leaking pipe and reroute it back into the plant for re-use."
"However, monitoring equipment indicated Wednesday that a small amount of new water from the original leak had reached the groundwater," the outlet noted. "Operators discovered that, over the past two days, the temporary solution was no longer capturing all of the leaking water, Xcel Energy said."
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement that they "have no evidence at this point to indicate a current or imminent risk to the public and will continue to monitor groundwater samples."
"Should an imminent risk arise, we will inform the public promptly," the agencies said. "We encourage the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has regulatory oversight of the plant's operations, to share ongoing public communications on the leak and on mitigation efforts to help residents best understand the situation."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT OUR WORK.
We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
reader supported.
reader supported.