© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(February 26) – U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, in a decision issued Wednesday, rejected arguments by the Sierra Club that Dallas-based power generator Luminant violated emission standards under the federal Clean Air Act at its Big Brown Power Plant.
The Sierra Club sued Luminant, which is a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings, in 2012, alleging that the company pumped an illegally high amount of soot and other particles into the air during maintenance, startup and shutdown events at the Fairfield plant from July 2007 to the present.
The Sierra Club sought more than $330 million in civil penalties and sought an injunction requiring Luminant to replace the existing emissions-control equipment with new equipment at a cost of approximately $140 million.
Photo credit: Dallas Business Journal
EFH General Counsel Stacey Doré praised the judge’s decision, as well as the hard work of the company’s environmental officials and the legal team.
“This ruling is directly attributable to the strong commitment of our company and our employees to environmental excellence, and our legal team did a masterful job of proving our compliance record in court,” Doré told The Texas Lawbook.
“Dan Kelly, associate general counsel of EFH, was superb in leading our trial strategy, and our trial team from Gibson Dunn and Balch & Bingham put on a flawless defense case,” said Doré.
Bill Dawson and Mike Raiff from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher led the defense effort.
Officials with the Sierra Club said Wednesday they are weighing their appellate options.
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