The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and the town of Carrboro, North Carolina, filed a formal notice of intent today to sue the Environmental Protection Agency to force it to act on a petition challenging the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s inadequate air-pollution permit.
The conservation groups and the town objected to the permit issued by North Carolina regulators because it places no limitations on how much coal UNC may burn at one time.
Without limits on coal burning, the state has no way to fulfill its duty to enforce Clean Air Act restrictions on how much deadly sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide pollution UNC’s plant may emit, risking violations of science-based air-quality standards.