N.C. Targets TVA Over Air Pollution

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is taking on the nation’s largest public power company in an effort to protect his state from toxic pollution.

Cooper has announced plans to file a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority for violating pollution control requirements mandated by federal law. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other pollutants released by TVA’s coal-fired power plants blow into North Carolina, damaging the environment as well as residents’ health. Pollutants from burning coal have been linked to heart disease, asthma, neurological problems and other illnesses.

Cooper last week wrote a letter to the TVA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental administrators in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama announcing that he would sue the TVA unless it takes action to reduce harmful emissions.

“Pollution ignores state boundaries,” he said, “so we all have to do our part to make sure the air is clean.”

Cooper alleged that TVA violated provisions of the Clean Air Act by modifying nine of its coal-burning power plants without determining whether additional emission controls were needed or installing available technology to control pollution. The EPA has found that several TVA plants contribute significantly to air quality problems in North Carolina.

Environmental advocates praised Cooper’s decision.

“North Carolina and other Southeastern states should salute Attorney General Cooper for suing TVA, which sends huge quantities of unhealthy air pollution across the region,” said Michael Shore, senior air policy analyst with Environmental Defense. “TVA has said that it wants to reduce pollution. But citizens can't depend on promises to produce results. Attorney General Cooper's action can turn TVA's words into a legally binding commitment to protect our children and grandparents from dirty air."

This is not Cooper’s first attempt to target air pollution crossing North Carolina’s borders. In March of this year, he filed a petition under the Clean Air Act asking the federal government to force coal-burning power plants in 13 other states to cut down on the pollution they’re contributing to North Carolina.

In addition to serving residents of Tennessee, TVA also supplies electricity to households in five western North Carolina counties: Avery, Burke, Cherokee, Clay and Watauga.

North Carolina has been a leader in efforts to reduce air pollution from power plants. In 2002, the state adopted the Clean Smokestacks Act, which requires the state’s 14 largest coal-fired power plants to reduce toxic emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury.