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Judge to rule on Longleaf permit appeal by Dec. 20 Following a permitting process that extended over two and a half years, the Georgia EPD issued permits May 10 for construction of the Longleaf Energy coal-fired power plant in Early County. The Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee filed a petition for a hearing on the air permit June 14. The petition alleged that the EPD permits would not force the company to meet state and federal clean air standards, and did not require Longleaf to use the best available technology. Over the past six months the parties, which include EPD and Longleaf, prepared their respective legal cases and then spent 21 days before administrative law judge Stephanie Howells in Atlanta with lawyers and expert witnesses arguing their sides of the issue. The final day of testimony was Thursday. Judge Howells has stated that she plans to render her findings by Dec. 20. Judge Howells dismissed several claims in the petition during early proceedings. "Substantial evidence and testimony was presented by the parties on the claims she allowed to be heard during the 21-day trial," project manager Mike Vogt told the News Monday from his office in St. Louis. "There was a lot of very technical data presented during the hearings by both sides." During the final day of testimony Greenlaw attorney George Hays asked Judge Howells to send the permits back to the EPD for further study, arguing federal law requires new plants to have controls that achieve the "maximum degree of reduction" in pollution. "This is not the maximum degree of reduction," Hayes was quoted saying in an AP article Friday. Hayes also claimed the EPD relied too heavily on the company's claims and data in drafting the permit. According to an Albany Herald article over the weekend, during the state's closing arguments on Thursday, Senior Assistant Attorney General Diane DeShazo said the EPD selected reasonable emissions limits for the Longleaf plant that are in line with limits other states have placed on coal-burning plants within their borders.
DeShazo said the agency set those limits after a thorough review process that included independent research, extensive contacts with representatives of Longleaf and environmental regulators in other states, and public input. "EPD took great care to comply with the law," she said.
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