NC and US Attorneys General Asked to Investigate NC DAQ
Citing evidence of collusion between the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) and Duke Energy, the Canary Coalition has contacted both the offices of the North Carolina Attorney General and the United States Justice Department, asking for investigations to determine if ethical or legal boundaries have been crossed.
Under a bizarre set of circumstances DAQ has performed regulatory gymnastics to allow Duke Energy to continue construction on its new Cliffside coal-burning power plant in Rutherford County in apparent defiance of a federal court order. On December 2, 2008, federal Judge Lacy Thornburg ruled against Duke Energy in a lawsuit brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center charging that the Cliffside Power Plant construction permit, issued by DAQ, did not meet requirements mandated in the federal Clean Air Act. Thornburg ruled that the proposed plant at Cliffside will be a major source of hazardous air pollutants and therefore is subject to a complete assessment of Maximum Achievable Control Technologies (MACT) for hydrogen chlorides, hydrogen fluorides, mercury, lead, arsenic, dioxins, barium, cadmium and other toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
Incredibly, Duke Energy attorneys reacted by issuing a claim that the company is revising the estimate of hazardous emissions from 217 tons annually to only 24 tons, an 85% reduction - without changing one nut or bolt in the design. For two years during the permit application process Duke has been using the 217 ton estimate. 25 tons is the threshold that separates major from minor sources. As a minor source, Duke would not be subject to the MACT standards. As ingenuous as the 24 ton claim is, DAQ has chosen to go along and begin the process of modifying the constructon permit to accomadate Duke Energy.
During the permit modification process DAQ manipulated the public hearing process to avoid the scrutiny of major urban populations and news media coverage, choosing remote locations and inconvenient times and dates that would make it impossible for most people affected by the pollution of the plant to attend and participate. Duke energy shipped in hundreds of paid employees to dominate the hearings, in Forest City and Statesville, as DAQ allowed an atmosphere of intimidation to prevail against the few opponents of the permit modification who managed to attend. Operating rules routinely read at the beginning of the hearings were disregarded in favor of Duke Energy paid employees who spoke. Due process was run over, rough-shod, depriving opponents of a fair chance to fully expose the issues at stake in the proposed permit modification.
In addition, in order to help Duke Energy build its new Cliffside plant, DAQ has ignored requirements in the Clean Air Act for regulation of carbon-dioxide emissions, the principle cause of Climate Change. At every turn, the state's air quality regulatory agency has bent over backwards to accomodate the power company at the expense of public health and the environment.
The Canary Coalition's action against the DAQ comes on the heels of a report by the Civil Society Institute revealing massive contributions by the Duke Energy Political Action Committee and Duke Energy executives to political campaigns throughout North Carolina. Although DAQ officials are not directly elected, the agency is highly subject to political manipulation as they are appointed by elected officials who receive large donations from utility industry sources.
Click here for copies of the petitions sent to the NC Attorney General and the US Justice Department.
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Monday 16 February 2009 - 19:28:00
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