Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA

On February 8, 2019, four environmental groups filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging EPA’s issuance of a Clean Air Act Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for the Palmdale Energy Project, a natural gas-fired power plant. In October 2018, the EPA Environmental Appeals Board rejected the groups’ administrative appeal of the permit, including the argument that EPA had erred by rejecting battery storage (in lieu of duct burners) as a best available control technology (BACT).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) denied conservation groups’ petition seeking review of a prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit issued for construction and operation of a 645-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Palmdale, California. The conservation groups argued unsuccessfully that EPA had erred by rejecting battery storage (in lieu of duct burners) as a best available control technology (BACT). The groups contended that batteries would reduce carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and greenhouse gas emissions. The EAB concluded that the groups failed to demonstrate that EPA clearly erred in its rejection of battery storage on the basis that the groups had not demonstrated it was technically feasible.