Court favours Duke; EPA Appeals Power Plant Case

- A federal judge has sided with Duke Energy in a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency agreed to the judgment in order to appeal a key ruling in the case.

EPA's 2000 lawsuit claimed Duke illegally modified eight coal- fired power plants without also adding more pollution controls.

Duke said the work was routine repair and maintenance.

Last August, U.S. District Judge Frank Bullock made two rulings that hurt the government's case.

One involved the interpretation of "routine" maintenance.

The other ruling sided with Duke's interpretation that, for the government to prove its case, the hourly rate of emissions from the plants would have to increase. The government had contended, instead, that emissions would increase because the modifications extended their operating hours.

In February, Bullock denied a request by EPA and the three environmental groups that intervened in the case to appeal the August rulings. That decision left them with an unwinnable case, they said.

Recently Duke, the EPA and the environmental groups filed a joint motion asking that Bullock rule in Duke's favor.

The agency and environmental groups said they filed the motion in order to appeal the August ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If an appeal is not filed, the case is over.

Bullock filed an order in Duke's favor shortly thereafter.