Group Against Smog and Pollution, National Parks Conservation Association and Sierra Club filed a notice of intent to sue the plant developer, Wellington Development LLC, in federal court.
Two of the groups, Group Against Smog and Pollution and National Parks Conservation Association, are seeking to appeal the issuance of the company's air quality permit in state court.
The groups will claim in their federal suit that Wellington did not begin construction of its plant before its air quality permit expired.
Stanley Sears of Wellington Development said the lawsuit is just another attempt to delay the project.
We agree.
The company received an air quality permit from DEP in June 2005. The issuance of the permit was subsequently appealed to the state Environmental Hearing Board, which dismissed the appeal.
The Group Against Smog and Pollution and the National Parks Conservation Association then filed a petition for review in December with the state's Commonwealth Court.
Briefs are expected to be filed on that suit this month.
We urge the court to refuse review, if for no other reason than to quiet the opposition from environmental groups whose goals, it seems, are to oppose anything put into the air other than pixie dust.
We recognize supporting a power plant is not a popular position, but we have supported Wellington's efforts because of the company's commitment to meet or exceed most environmental standards.
The $800 million plant is expected to burn more than 3.1 million tons of waste coal annually from the Nemacolin, Isabella, LaBelle and Clyde coal refuse piles.
We thought initially, and we do now, that the main benefit of this project was that it would placate both environmentalists and economists.
The lawsuits need to stop. Construction has begun, and we take the position it should continue.