{"id":16101,"date":"2013-09-04T13:01:44","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=16101"},"modified":"2013-09-05T10:47:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T15:47:12","slug":"as-one-battle-ends-another-sparks-between-the-epa-and-oge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/09\/04\/as-one-battle-ends-another-sparks-between-the-epa-and-oge\/","title":{"rendered":"As One Battle Ends, Another Sparks Between the EPA and OG&E"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oklahoma<\/a><\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Gas & Electric's Muskogee Power Plant was part of more than $80 million in renovations done at OG&E coal plants between 2003-2006.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The clash between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oklahoma Gas & Electric over pollution from coal-fired power plants continues to escalate.<\/p>

On Tuesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and OG&E both asked the 10th<\/sup> U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its July decision in favor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At issue was whether EPA has the authority to usurp the state\u2019s plan for limiting haze on federal land; a plan EPA has deemed inadequate.<\/p>

So OG&E first lost the case, then the appeal, and now it\u2019s calling for a review of the appellate decision. The prospects for a reversal aren\u2019t good, but at the Rotary Club of Oklahoma City Tuesday, OGE Energy Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Pete Delaney joined with Pruitt to justify the continued fight. From The Oklahoman\u2019s<\/i> Paul Monies<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn appeal, you’re working a little bit uphill,\u201d Delaney said. \u201cWe know there’s a lot at stake for our ratepayers because there’s potential investment of $1 billion for scrubbers, so we take that very seriously.\u201d<\/p>

\u2026 Pruitt said his rehearing request was about preserving the state’s ability to formulate its own plan for regional haze. The Clean Air Act requires states to make \u201creasonable progress\u201d toward better visibility at federal parks and wilderness areas by 2064.<\/p><\/blockquote>

While the regional haze case looks to be close to an end, another lawsuit filed by the EPA against OG&E is just getting started.<\/p>

The EPA is accusing the electric utility<\/a> of violating the Clean Air Act by improperly estimating the amount of\u00a0emissions\u00a0that could come from upgrades at two coal-fired power plants.<\/p>

Between 2003 and 2006, OG&E made more than $80 million in renovations to its Sooner and Muskogee power plants, including an enlargement of boiler reheaters and superheaters, which leads to increased emissions.<\/p>

On August 30, the EPA filed motion for summary judgement \u00a0that says when a company decides to make major modifications at a coal plant, a very specific process must be followed: The Prevention of Significant Deterioration rules.<\/p>\n

\u2026as the first step in assuring public health is adequately protected, an operator must either <\/i>(a) perform a detailed projection of future emissions to determine whether a modification \u201cwould result in\u201d a significant emissions increase, or<\/i> (b) accept a legally and practically enforceable limit on future operations.<\/p><\/blockquote>

The EPA claims OG&E did neither. A response from the company is expected within days.<\/p>\n

StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma\u2019s public radio stations and produces journalism in the public interest, essential to an informed electorate. Help support informative, in-depth journalism with a donation online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The EPA cites prior rulings in claiming \u201cOG&E\u2019s temporary manage-and-report scheme falls short of the Company\u2019s legal obligations under the \u2026 regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[532,499,525],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16101"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16118,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16101\/revisions\/16118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}