Fighting Coal

EPA Rejects S.D. Coal-Fired Power Plant
SustainableBusiness.com News

Environmentalists say a new era has begun concering coal-fired power plants in the U.S., following a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday to overturn the State of South Dakota's approval of a massive coal-fired power plant.

The decision came less than three days after President Barack Obama took office; however, Carl Daly, unit chief for EPA Region 8, said "It would be fair to say" the decision would have been made under the Bush administration.

Nonetheless, the Sierra Club said the EPA's decision to require state-of-the-art pollution controls on the new facility marks a turnign point.

"This is a great day not only for clean energy and people's health, it's a victory for the rule of law," said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal Campaign. "EPA is signaling that it is back to enforcing longstanding legal requirements fairly and consistently nationwide." Read More

You can almost hear the joy in their voices through this article. The Sierra Club, in all of their shortsightedness, has successfully blocked the building of an electric plant. And while they are celebrating, the hard working people of Minnesota and South Dakota will suffer from an increasingly unreliable power supply.