The Kansas Supreme Court upheld a 2014 addendum to a 2010 Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) for construction of a new coal-fired electric generating unit. KDHE issued the 2010 permit several weeks before the effective date of federal regulations requiring greenhouse gas emissions limits in PSD permits for certain sources. In 2013, the Kansas Supreme Court remanded the 2010 permit to KDHE to apply federal standards for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. In its 2013 opinion, the court noted that KDHE would also have to apply the mercury and air toxics standards that had gone into effect during the pendency of the litigation but indicated that the scope of other issues to be considered on remand would be determined by KDHE. On remand, KDHE elected to omit greenhouse gas limits on the grounds that it had stayed the effect of regulations that would have invalidated the approval to construct after 18 months and had not issued a new permit. In Sierra Club’s challenge to the addendum, the court rejected the argument that the addendum was required to incorporate the greenhouse gas regulations that went into effect after issuance of the 2010 permit. The court said its 2013 opinion had not vacated the 2010 PSD permit and had left KDHE with discretion to make “broad determinations” regarding the scope of remand proceedings. The court said that Sierra Club had not established that the addendum constituted a new permit and found that Sierra Club had failed to establish that KDHE’s decision not to include greenhouse gas limits erroneously interpreted or applied the law, was not supported by substantial evidence, or was unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious.

Challenge to 2014 permit addendum to 2010 Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit for construction of new coal-fired power unit.

Sierra Club v. Mosier

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Kansas High Court Upheld Coal Plant PSD Permit Addendum That Did Not Include Greenhouse Gas Emission Limits

Filed

United States of America

Kansas

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Kansas High Court Upheld Coal Plant PSD Permit Addendum That Did Not Include Greenhouse Gas Emission Limits

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance