Green groups sue U.S. government to stop coal plant

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Green groups sue U.S. government to stop coal plant
Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:00PM EDT

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By Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Green groups said they filed a lawsuit
on Monday seeking to stop a U.S. government office from
funding the building of a coal-fired power station until it
discloses the global warming impacts of the plant.

The Rural Utilities Service, a Great Depression-era program to
bring power to rural areas, agreed in May to fund the majority
of the $720 million, 250-megawatt Highwood Generating Station
near Great Falls, Montana. The office is considering helping to
fund billions more for an additional six coal-fired power plants
from Wyoming to Kentucky.

The suit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia by environmental law firm Earthjustice, green group
the Sierra Club and others. It claims RUS broke federal
environmental laws by not disclosing the impacts of the Montana
plant and that it did not consider other power generation sources
such as wind power before moving ahead with funding for it.

The suit seeks to stop the office, part of the Department of
Agriculture, from approving federal loan funds for the plants
until it confronts the global warming impacts of coal burning.
The loan rates would be about 2 percentage points lower than
commercial rates.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2338210820070723