By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Construction of a coal-fired power plant in Southwest Arkansas can continue, the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission ruled today.
The commission rejected a petition by the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society to halt construction of Shreveport, La.-based Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s $1.6 billion John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant near Fulton in Hempstead County.
Construction was halted last year after the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society challenged state regulators’ decisions to grant permits for the plant, but In December the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission granted a request from SWEPCO to resume construction while the appeals were pending.
The groups opposing the plant argued today that the commission should reinstate the stay of construction because of recent events that they said changed the circumstances of the case, including a June ruling by the state Court of Appeals that overturned the state Public Service Commission’s decision to grant SWEPCO a permit for the plant.
The petitioners also argued that an federal Environmental Protection Agency order issued in August, concerning a coal plant in Kentucky, defined requirements under the federal Clean Air Act that SWEPCO has not met.
SWEPCO attorney Kelly McQueen told the commission that SWEPCO has asked the state Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals’ decision, and permits for the plant will remain in effect until the Supreme Court either makes a decision or declines to take up the case.
McQueen also argued that claims SWEPCO did not follow the Clean Air Act were without merit and were not raised in a timely manner.
If construction were halted, 920 construction workers would be out of a job, McQueen said. Another 440 people the company planned to hire would not be hired, she said.
If construction were halted and SWEPCO later received permission to go ahead with the plant, “it would take SWEPCO two to three months to get back where it is today in terms of remobilizing, getting the people back, getting the people back-trained and starting up again,” McQueen said.
Richard Mays, attorney for the petitioners, countered that the commission should base its decision on environmental issues, not on the economic impact on the area. He also said SWEPCO should not be allowed to use the fact that construction has already begun as an argument for continuing construction, saying ratepayers will have to cover the cost of SWEPCO’s investment if the plant is not built.
“Economics is present in all of these cases. If you are going to be persuaded by arguments that people are going to be unemployed if you don’t grant permits, then you might as well close up shop,” Mays said.
The commission also allowed several members of the public to speak for and against the petition before voting 10-2 to deny it.
Venita McCellon-Allen, executive vice president of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, parent company of SWEPCO, said after the hearing she was “delighted that they (the commissioners) saw the strength of SWEPCO’s commitment to the environment and to the Southwest Arkansas economy. We’ve got a lot of people who are pulling for the plant.”
Ken Smith, director of Arkansas Audubon, said he believed Mays made a good case for halting construction, but the decision was “not unexpected.”
“We’ll see what happens now from the Supreme Court,” he said.
