Coal-Fired Powerplants Dominate Climate Change Litigation

Litigation aiming to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is coming to be dominated by battles over coal-fired power plants. Ten of the last 20 judicial or administrative decisions or case filings in matters aiming to reduce GHGs have concerned such plants. A concerted effort by the environmental community to fight the use of coal is behind much of this litigation. According to the Energy Information Administration, the combustion of coal is the largest source of GHG emissions in the United States; motor vehicles are a not-very-close second. The Sierra Club has a Web site that tracks all the proposed coal-fired power plants in the United States. It shows there are 100 such proposals today, of which 56 are active. My own litigation tracking has identified air-related legal proceedings involving 42 separate facilities