Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club v. Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board

The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club (Sierra Club) filed a proceeding in Virginia Circuit Court challenging a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit issued for a combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant. Sierra Club’s arguments included an assertion that the PSD permit was required to address emissions—including fugitive greenhouse gas emissions—associated with the pipeline that would deliver fuel to the power plant. Sierra Club also asserted that the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board failed to conduct a proper best available control technology (BACT) analysis because the BACT analysis should have considered a solar-powered auxiliary component as an available control technology for reducing greenhouse gas and other air emissions.