Judge rules that Wise coal-plant permit is flawed

A Richmond judge says a state permit for a coal-burning power plant in Wise County did not adequately limit mercury pollution.

Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer said the state Air Pollution Control Board erred in issuing the permit for the $1.8 billion Dominion Virginia Power plant. The ruling, released yesterday, means the board must craft a revised permit for the plant.

Both sides claim to have prevailed.

"This is an important victory for the health and welfare of Virginians," said Cale Jaffe, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which challenged two permits the board issued for the plant in 2008.

Jaffe called the decision "essential for assuring that the Clean Air Act's most stringent health-based standards will be met before a coal plant is constructed."

Dominion Virginia Power spokesman Jim Norvelle said the ruling does not kill the power plant.

"We believe the remaining issue regarding the mercury emissions can be addressed and the station can be completed on schedule," Norvelle said.

The 585-megawatt plant is under construction and scheduled to begin operating in mid-2012.

The law center challenged the permits on behalf of four other environmental groups -- the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Sierra Club.

The challenge attacked the permits on seven points, including a claim that the state should have regulated emissions of carbon dioxide, which is linked to global warming.

The environmentalists won only on the mercury point.

The air board put a mercury limit in the permit, but the permit allowed the limit to be loosened if the plant had trouble meeting the original requirement.

A revised permit would almost certainly have to eliminate that so-called escape hatch. Dominion Virginia Power says it would not object to that.

High levels of mercury, often consumed in tainted fish, can damage the brain, the kidneys and developing fetuses.

David Clementson, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, which represented the air board, said: "We are pleased that the court ruled for the board on all but one issue. We shall work with our clients to determine what further course of action to pursue."

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, agreed with Dominion Virginia Power that the ruling probably would not kill the plant. But he said meeting a new, and perhaps tougher, mercury limit could be costly to the company.