ELR Citation: ELR 20292
No(s). 1:08cv318 (W.D.N.C. Dec 12, 2008)

A district court denied a power company's motion to dismiss an environmental group's Clean Air Act (CAA) claim against it for maximum achievable control technology (MACT) violations and ordered the company to submit a formal MACT determination for the construction of a new 800-megawatt coal fired power plant in North Carolina. The court rejected claims that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction or that the group lacked standing. The court also denied the company's motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it constitutes an improper collateral attack on North Carolina's permit process or that abstention was proper under the facts of this case. Instead, the court granted environmental groups' motion for summary judgment that the company is constructing the plant without the required CAA §112 MACT determination. The material facts are not in dispute. The company is simply refusing to comply with controlling law.