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Roundup Power Plant
Roundup Coal-Fired Power Project Derailed
(November 2007)
IT'S OFFICIAL — THE ROUNDUP POWER PROJECT WILL NOT BE BUILT
It’s not everyday that you can say you helped stop a 780-megawatt coal-fired power plant that would have increased Montana’s overall global warming emissions by 27%. But today you can. MEIC members can be proud that their support helped stop the ill-conceived Roundup Power Project. In October the Montana Department of Environmental Quality officially revoked the air pollution permit for the plant.
The Roundup Power Project received its first air pollution permit in January 2003. MEIC had to file a total of four legal challenges to the plant: two regarding the emissions of nonhazardous and hazardous air pollutants, and one involving the State’s compliance with the Montana Environmental Policy Act and failure to protect Montanans’ constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. Finally, MEIC had to bring an administrative appeal to force the revocation of the permit.
In July 2005 DEQ told the company that its permit had expired because it had failed to begin construction by the deadline stated in the permit. Politics soon came into play; by October 2005, DEQ had reversed course under direction from the Governor’s Office. DEQ gave the company an additional 18 months to begin construction.
MEIC appealed that extension to the Board of Environmental Review. This Summer, the Board’s hearings examiner found that the permit had indeed expired and recommended that the Board rule in MEIC’s favor. Before the Board could act, the company sent a letter to DEQ asking that its permit be revoked. In its letter the company said that its permit had been “needlessly attacked by various obstructionist groups.” Name calling didn’t change the outcome. In October, DEQ officially revoked the air pollution permit for the plant.
Nationwide, coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of global warming pollution. Scientists worldwide say that emissions of global warming pollutants must be reduced by 80% by the year 2050 and that those reductions must start immediately. If we fail to heed these warnings, the most catastrophic impacts of a warmer planet will be unavoidable. As world-renowned climate scientist Dr. James Hansen said, coal-fired power plants should be the primary target of efforts to reduce global warming. MEIC’s success in stopping the Roundup Power Project is one important step in that direction.
IN THE NEWS
- Pipe dream: Hopes for a coal-powered future darken by the day (by John S. Adams, Missoula Independent, 09/20/2007). "A tough year for coal boosters got even tougher last week when the backers of a $1.5 billion coal gasification plant near Roundup threw in the towel on their bid to try to apply an expired air quality permit to the project...."
- Roundup power plant back to square one (by The Associated Press, 9/13/07). "Backers of a proposed $1.5 billion coal-to-liquids plant near Roundup have dropped their bid to use a dated air quality permit for the plant, a project beset by financial difficulties and legal challenges...."
- MEIC WINS LEGAL CHALLENGE: Roundup Power permit ruled invalid (By CLAIR JOHNSON of The Gazette Staff, July 17, 2007) READ ABOUT IT.
- Hearings examiners decision on the Roundup plant