Fed Appeals Court Sides With EPA, Sierra Club In Haze Case
Federal court rules against state, OG&E on EPA pollution plan
BY ROBERT E. BOCZKIEWICZ For The Oklahoman
DENVER — An appeals court Friday upheld a federal plan vehemently opposed by Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Oklahoma Gas & Electric to reduce pollutants emitted by two Oklahoma power plants.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was within its authority to reject a state pollution-control plan for the plants and impose a more stringent plan.
The OG&E coal-burning plants, near Pawnee and Muskogee, emit large amounts of unhealthy pollutants.
“We conclude that the EPA has authority to review the state’s plan and that it lawfully exercised that authority in rejecting it and promulgating its own,” the court ruled 2-1.