Sierra Club v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Sierra Club and two other organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC’s) issuance of a new Clean Air Act Title V permit for the Caithness gas-fired power plant on Long Island. The petitioners alleged that DEC failed to comply with the requirements of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), including by failing to conduct an evaluation of whether the permit would be inconsistent or interfere with attainment of the CLCPA’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements or to provide the required detailed justification or to identify any alternatives or mitigation to ameliorate greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the petitioners asserted that DEC failed to evaluate whether the permit would impose a disproportionate burden on surrounding disadvantaged communities or consider mitigation to reduce the burdens on (or to benefit) those communities. The petitioners also asserted that it was arbitrary and capricious to rely on the plant’s previous permit to “effectively exempt” the plant from CLCPA requirements.