Duke Energy says US government to drop clean air case
Date: 15-Apr-04
Country: USA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department will not pursue the case against Charlotte-based Duke for violating the Clean Air Act because "the plaintiffs cannot prove their case against Duke Energy at trial," the company said in a release.
Intervenors including Environmental Defense, the North Carolina Sierra Club and the state's Public Interest Research Group have also agreed to the motion, Duke said.
The EPA and Justice Department in December 2000 sued eight electric utilities for upgrading aging coal-fired plants without installing scrubbers or other devices to reduce air pollutants linked with acid rain, smog and soot, and health problems like chronic bronchitis and pneumonia.
Duke's utility subsidiary Duke Power, which serves 2.2 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina, was among the utilities named in cases brought in the waning days of the Clinton administration.
Cases against utilities American Electric Power (AEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Cinergy Corp. (CIN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and utility units of Southern Co. (SO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) have not gone to trial yet.
Duke said the case - now set for trial beginning July 6 - will be dropped if the agreement is accepted by District Judge Frank Bullock in the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Bullock could act on the motion as soon as April 19, Duke said.
The motion would end enforcement litigation before the judge, but preserve the government's right to appeal elements of its case to a U.S. appeals court, Duke said.
Duke said it plans to spend $1.5 billion by 2013 to install emission-reduction equipment at its power plants.
The North Carolina legislature in 2002 passed a law requiring state power plant owners to make substantial reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
