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South Coast Air District Charged with Selling Invalid Emission Credits A coalition of environmental groups has filed a federal lawsuit against California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District, accusing the agency of selling invalid emissions credits.
The agency, which covers Orange County as well as parts of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, is accused of selling energy companies credits that had been earmarked for public service projects like schools and hospitals. The disputed credits were sold for a total of $420 million.
In accordance with state and federal law, companies must purchase credits whenever they expand operations or cause greater levels of pollution. But conservationists charge that the air district’s allotment of salable credits was exhausted some time ago.
The Clean Air Act mandates that credits be permanent, enforceable and quantifiable—and the environmental coalition has asked the court to prohibit the air district from distributing credits that fail to meet those criteria. In July, the same coalition won a case against the air district in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The Court determined that officials had failed to adequately evaluate environmental and health effects of pollution and had therefore sold credits to energy companies at prices far below market value. The decision has affected plans for more than a dozen new power plants in Southern California. Return to September 2008 Western Energy News To sponsor Western Energy News , please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.
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