A developer has scrapped its plans to build a 1,240-MW gas-fired generator in central Pennsylvania after environmental groups challenged the plant’s permits.
“Renovo Energy Center [REC] LLC will discontinue development of the proposed combined-cycle plant in Renovo, Pa.,” the developer said in a statement. “After more than 8 years, we do not see a path to a reasonable conclusion of the project’s air permit appeal, and have made the difficult decision to discontinue development.”
REC submitted its air quality application in December 2019, detailing plans for a combined cycle generator fueled by natural gas or ultra-low sulfur diesel. The Clean Air Council, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future and Center for Biological Diversity filed a series of appeals to the state Environmental Hearing Board, arguing that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had awarded several permits that would allow emissions higher than standards in state law.
The hearing board granted the environmental groups two appeals in August 2022, resulting in a partial summary judgment finding that the sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compound limits were too high in the DEP permits. The company dropped its development plans a week after a third appeal was set to move to hearings, following a filing stating that the parties could not reach a settlement.
“Our lawsuit was about protecting Pennsylvania and this environmental justice community from the additional pollution burdens that this plant would have imposed,” Jessica O’Neill, senior attorney at PennFuture, said in a statement following the project cancellation.
“It is a win for Renovo and for all Pennsylvanians when we realize that the fracked gas industry doesn’t make sense — from an economic, energy or environmental health perspective,” she said. “We will continue to push back against facilities and industries that threaten the health of our communities, our workers and the sustainable energy future that Pennsylvanians want and that our children deserve.”
The appeal argued that the DEP approval contained incorrect emissions limits for volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and particulate matter; uses outdated global warming potential factors to calculate emissions; misapplied the cost-benefit analysis required by the state; and stated that emission reduction credits sources from outside the state would be accepted without demonstrating that the credits would meet state requirements.
Clean Air Council Legal Director Alex Bomstein said the DEP has a track record of allowing air permits that exceed limits by relying on a developer’s projected emissions for a generator without conducting adequate analysis to verify the figures. The environmental groups hired an expert for their appeals who found that the plant’s emissions would have caused billions of dollars in public health costs for surrounding neighborhoods, which have been designated an environmental justice community.
The group has also been involved in appealing air permits awarded to Invenergy’s proposed gas-fired Allegheny Energy Center in Pennsylvania, with hearings expected in July.
“The way that society is moving, we’re not going to have many more of the large fossil fuel plants. … The market is favoring renewable energy,” Bomstein said, adding that his group is focusing on trying to combat legislation that would impede development of clean energy.
Local environmental groups cited the impact on residents’ health as the basis for their opposition.
“As a great-grandparent, I’m grateful that this power plant didn’t come to fruition because we are now able to protect what is most important — the health of our children,” Sue Cannon, co-founder of Renovo Residents for a Healthy Environment, said in the statement. “I opposed the power plant because I was thinking about the children in this community, especially my great-grandchild, and what the pollution would do to their health.”
