Green Leaf Report

The recent Supreme Court ruling that I blogged about last week for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant was an exciting legal change, dealing with a whole new area of pollution.  Another Supreme Court ruling made recently just made me angry when I realized the underlying issue: In Environmental Defense vs. Duke Energy Corp I learned about an environmental loophole that was apparently exploited by coal plants since 1980. I had to pause for a minute when reading this article- really, 1980?  So even though the EPA enacted clean air legislation in 1980, some coal plants were exempt because they were grandfathered in, and were in the last third of their life.  Well, it appears the old dogs had life in them yet, because the coal plant owners were arguing to keep those same coal plants active longer than the projected life, upgrade them as necessary to keep them running, and still not have to comply with the 1980 Clean Air Act.  So in 27 years of running these plants, upgrading them for our air quality was too much of a hardship.  Let me cry them a river; I’ve seen the profits these companies have been pulled in. Unbelievable- no wonder newer technologies have a hard time competing.  The new guys need to follow laws that the old fogey technologies get exempted from.  Beyond legal requirements, though, this borders on an ethical issue, also; surely the owners knew they could extend these plants even while they received the original exemption. Fortunately, the Supreme Court made the unanimous decision to close this sordid loophole and require the coal plants to install pollution-reducing equipment (and, I hope, become compliant with this 27 year old pollution act!) if the owners extend the life of the exempted plants.