Westar Energy, Environmental Deception, Kansas 2023

Westar Energy Sued for Dirty Coal Deals

The United States has filed a complaint against Westar Energy, alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by making major modifications to the Jeffrey Energy Center, a coal-fired power plant in St. Marys, Kan., without also installing and operating modern pollution control equipment.

Coal-fired power plants collectively produce more pollution than any other industry in the United States, accounting for nearly 70 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions each year and 20 percent of nitrogen oxides emissions. The emissions from these plants have detrimental health effects on asthma sufferers, the elderly, and children.

The complaint alleges that for more than a decade, the Jeffrey Energy Center has operated without the best available emissions-control technology required by the New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act to control emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, contributing to the formation of fine particulate matter, smog, and acid rain.

Coal-fired power plants have been linked to forest degradation, waterway damage, reservoir contamination, and deterioration of stone and copper in buildings.

The United States is seeking civil penalties up to the maximum amount authorized by law, as well as actions by the energy provider to mitigate the adverse effects alleged to have been caused by the violations.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., as part of a national initiative targeting electric utilities whose coal-fired power plants violate the law.

The EPA and the Justice are pursuing a national initiative to combat the adverse effects caused by these power plants. The lawsuit asks the court to order Westar Energy to install and operate appropriate air pollution control technology to substantially reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter emissions from the Jeffrey Energy Center.

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