Citizen groups appeal Ridgeline power plant air quality permit to W.Va. courts

Three citizen groups - Tucker United, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the Sierra Club - have filed an appeal challenging an air quality permit for the proposed Ridgeline power plant and data center in Tucker County, West Virginia. The groups argue that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection improperly classified the facility as a minor source of air pollution, a designation that limits public oversight, and that critical emissions data was withheld from the public. The original appeal to the West Virginia Air Quality Board raised 17 specific objections to the permit, but the board's February 5 response only addressed 15 of them before upholding the permit. The current appeal focuses on two core issues: the facility's classification as a "synthetic minor source" of emissions rather than a "major source", and the withholding of emissions data that prevented citizens from independently assessing the facility's impact. The groups argue the Air Quality Board ignored evidence on both counts. Jim Kotcon, conservation chair for the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, stated that "Air pollution emissions from the proposed power plant in Tucker County will add to the already heavy health impacts from fossil fuel power plants in West Virginia" and that "WVDEP should be focused on protecting our health and the environment, instead of bending over backwards for corporate polluters." Amy Margolies of Tucker United said the permit does not accurately assess how pollution from the facility will affect surrounding communities, and Olivia Miller of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy argued that "West Virginians have a right to know what pollution may be released into the air they breathe" and that concealing that information "protects corporate interests at the expense of public health and dignity." The proposed Ridgeline facility would be built on approximately 500 acres about two miles north of Davis and Thomas, and is expected to produce more than 1,600 megawatts of power that would not be connected to the electrical grid, meaning all power generated would be used on-site.