FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2007

Contact: Ray Barry, Sierra Club, (859) 232-5483
Robert Ukeiley, Counsel for Sierra Club. (859) 986-5402, rukeiley@igc.org

EAST KENTUCKY POWER COOP’S COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT PERMIT REJECTED

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) released late on Friday its Order objecting to an air pollution permit for East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s (EKPC) Spurlock Station Coal-Fired Power Plant in Maysville, KY. Environmental and health organizers with the Kentucky Chapter of the Sierra Club, who filed the petition leading to the Order, hailed the decision as a win in protecting the health of Kentucky citizens.

EPA’s objection to the permit validates the Sierra Club’s concerns that the Kentucky Division of Air Quality (KY DAQ) did not adequately protect people from the pollution from Spurlock when KY DAQ issued the permit. As a result, Spurlock’s permit must now have a limit which will reduce how much coal it can burn. A reduction in coal burning means a reduction of pollution emitted by the facility; including climate change causing carbon dioxide. Another issue upon which Sierra Club prevailed is that KY DAQ must now evaluate using low sulfur coal as a technique to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. Sulfur dioxide is a pollutant that causes acid rain, asthma attacks and even death. Unfortunately, US EPA also rejected Sierra Club’s petition on numerous other issues.

“Pollution from coal-fired electric generating plants can cause asthma in our children, as well as cancer and a host of other potentially fatal illnesses in all of us,” said Patty Draus, R.N., a Lexington nurse and long time Sierra Club member. “Considering all the challenges our health care system has, the best approach is to reduce the causes of illness, such as pollution, as much as possible.”

The Order also clears the way for citizens to take action to protect their health and bring about a clean energy future through their own actions of enforcing violations of air pollution permits at coal-fired electric generating plants when US EPA and the state fail to do so; an option that Sierra Club will be giving serious attention to.

Ray Barry, the Chair of the Kentucky Chapter of the Sierra Club said: “Sadly, it takes legal action by groups like Sierra Club to force government agencies to enforce the laws intended to protect the health of our families and communities. We would much prefer to see our state government promote clean, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency to build a vibrant 21st century economy, instead of propping up a dirty 19th century technology like coal.”

A copy of the 45 page Order is available upon request.

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