Costello Asks Benge, State To Throw Out Haze Settlement

Commissioner says coal suit settlement should be thrown out

BY TYRELL ALBIN STAFF WRITER, Lawton Constitution

Mark Costello, Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, is asking for a settlement that will eventually close a Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) power plant in Oolagah to be thrown out over what he believes were violations of the state’s Administrative Procedures Act.

Costello told the editorial board of The Lawton Constitution Tuesday that he had delivered a letter to Oklahoma Secretary of State Chris Benge, asking that he require the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to nullify the out-of court settlement reached between the DEQ, PSO, the Oklahoma Environmental Secretary, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and environmental activist organization the Sierra Club.

The agreement, reached in 2012, calls for PSO to close one of the three coal-fired units at the Northeastern Power Station in Oolagah, and retrofit another of the units with pollution controls with the plan of eventually closing the plant in 2026.

The settlement was the result of a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club. The settlement alters the state’s original plan to comply with federal National Ambient Air Quality Standards approved by the EPA in 2011.

The original plan called for both units in question to be retrofitted with pollution controls. Costello contends the settlement was done without going through all of the procedures outlined by state law, especially because the settlement was not brought before the legislature for approval as required by the Administrative Procedures Act.

If Benge acts on Costello’s letter, the DEQ will have 30 days to comply with the Secretary of State’s orders, Costello said. Costello said if the settlement is nullified, the original plan will be in effect, according to legal precedent.

Costello said he chose to act as the labor commissioner, even though it might not seem immediately like an area his office oversees, because he believes the settlement will result in higher energy costs for all Oklahoma wage-earners, which will also adversely affect the state’s ability to attract new businesses. Costello characterized PSO and the state’s decision to accept the settlement as political in nature.

He claimed the settlement does not help the environment in any significant way over the original plan. Costello also said the settlement and the lawsuit that spawned it are part of an anti-coal agenda by some environmentalists and politicians.

“I hope the Secretary of State will see this in the light it is presented and act accordingly,” said Costello.

PSO’s manager of regional communications, Stan Whiteford, said the company was unaware of Costello’s letter before being contacted by The Lawton Constitution for comment.

Whiteford said PSO would decline to comment on Costello’s actions and the settlement until the company’s legal counsel had reviewed the situation.