Texas is again contesting an EPA crackdown on a traditionally high-polluting power plant.
In a recently filed lawsuit with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the state challenged federal regulators’ decision in December to reinforce their earlier finding that the area around the Martin Lake power plant is flunking the latest national sulfur dioxide standard.
While the suit does not spell out the grounds, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had unsuccessfully sought more time to turn in a fresh cleanup plan and objected to EPA limits on air quality modeling around the plant as “too restrictive,” according to comments filed on the agency’s draft decision.
The 2,250-megawatt Martin Lake plant, located in East Texas and owned by Luminant Generation, has long ranked among the coal-fired power sector’s single biggest sources of SO2, a lung-searing pollutant that also contributes to acid rain.
