County wants power plant construction stopped

In a unique partnership, the Coweta County Board of Commissioners, the Coweta County Rural Preservation Society, and private citizens in Coweta County have filed suit in Heard County Superior Court to stop construction of a natural gas-fired merchant power plant being developed in neighboring Heard County by Dynegy Inc. of Houston, Texas.

Located in a controversial industrial zone created by the Heard County Commission, the Dynegy power plant property extends across the Heard County line into Coweta County.

Construction of the 500-megawatt facility continues despite a large number of zoning violations in Heard County, a lack of regional planning involving Coweta County officials, and a failure by the developers to consider the impact of pollution and emissions on the seriously threatened 13-county Atlanta non-attainment pollution zone, according to the suit.

"An out-of-state power company is building a gas-fired power plant in Heard County," said lawyer George C. Rosenzweig, representing Coweta County and the Coweta County Rural Preservation Society.

"But the tailpipe of the plant will dump pollution in Coweta County, and Coweta is part of the Atlanta non-attainment zone which state and federal authorities agree is already over-polluted and must be protected."

State and federal statutes require power plants to demonstrate that proposed emissions will be under allowable levels, but emissions were not modeled against levels that apply in the Atlanta non-attainment zone, in strict violation of clean air laws.

"If you wanted to build this plant in Coweta County, you couldn't do it," said Rick Brown, president of the Coweta County Rural Preservation Society.

"But the Dynegy plant straddles the Coweta County line and construction continues at a rapid pace. We want the project stopped until all zoning and clean air issues are resolved," he said.

The Rural Preservation Society is a 200-member organization founded in 2000 to address quality of life issues in rural areas, including green space preservation, conservation of natural resources, and clean air and water.

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