A federal district court recently ordered Duke Energy to submit its new Cliffside coal plant in North Carolina to an environmental review of the plant’s mercury-control measures. Environmental groups have been arguing for years that Duke’s new “state of the art” coal plant does not employ the latest technology to control mercury and other pollutants. The court-mandated environmental review is designed to ensure Cliffside employs the “maximum available control technology” (MACT).
The ruling is the first of its kind in the country that holds a new coal plant that received its permit under Bush’s lax regulations to the tougher MACT requirements of the Clean Air Act. The court’s decision did not halt construction of Cliffside and Duke plans to appeal the decision.
Find more at the Southern Environmental Law Center
