ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20221
No(s). 11-12168 (11th Cir. Sep 19, 2013)

The Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court decision excluding the testimony of two expert witnesses in the government's case against a power company for making major modifications at three of its coal-fired power plants without obtaining a permit or installing modern pollution control devices. The testimony of the two experts would have shown that the company should have expected the modifications to significantly increase pollutant emissions at the plants in violation of the CAA. The lower court excluded the testimony, agreeing with the power company that their methodology relied on incorrect and unrealistic assumptions about the operation of the company's generating units. Because the government could not proceed without the expert testimony, summary judgment was granted in favor of the power company. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit disagreed with the lower court's legal rationale and analysis and concluded that the exclusion of the expert testimony constituted an abuse of discretion. The experts' model is sufficiently reliable to establish a relationship between potential generation of electricity and expected pollutant emissions at the power company's modified plants. The court, therefore, vacated and remanded the lower court's decision for further proceedings.