Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) is suing New York after the state refused to renew an air permit for one of the company’s natural gas power plants, shutting down the plant four days before it was scheduled to open.
CPV filed the suit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) challenging the state’s decision to not renew the $900 million plant’s air permit in an Aug. 1 letter, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).
“Only in Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo’s New York would a state-of-the-art project that will reduce emissions, keep energy affordable, and deliver reliable electricity to New York consumers face countless, arbitrary delays,” API New York Executive director Karen Moreau said in a statement. “[CPV’s] natural gas plant is critical to ensuring that schools, businesses, hospitals and homes have access to affordable, reliable electricity especially during extreme weather conditions like the polar vortex that we all experienced this past winter.”
New York denied the renewal because the permit did not meet new regulatory standards for the size of the plant.
“Specifically, revisions of the applicable regulations now require a Clean Air Act Title V permit to operate this type of facility. And this facility has not submitted an application for nor has been granted this type of permit,” DEC spokeswoman Erica Ringewald told WAMC Northeast. “Facilities of this size and nature must be subject to the most rigorous air pollution controls to ensure the public is protected. And Title V permits provide for greater transparency and community input prior to authorization.”
New York residents pay some of the highest energy prices in the U.S., largely due to environmental policies that restrict the supply of fossil fuels to the region. A May report by the Consumer Energy Alliance found that New Yorkers paid 44 percent more than the national average for energy in 2017, despite the state neighboring the natural gas-rich state of Pennsylvania. (RELATED: Report: Dysfunctional Policies Force New Yorkers To Pay 46 Times More For Energy Than Their Neighbors)
New York also participates in a regional cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which affects all large carbon emitters in nine states in the eastern U.S.
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