Salt River Project’s natural gas generating station can be seen behind a basketball court and people’s homes immediately east of Randolph. Photo ||Patrick Breen/The Republic
Russ Wiles
Arizona Republic
Three months after Arizona regulators approved utility Salt River Project’s plan to expand a natural gas power plant in Pinal County, the Sierra Club is challenging that decision in court.
A lawsuit filed Friday by the environmental organization in Maricopa County Superior Court asserts the Arizona Corporation Commission erred in approving the gas-fired expansion at the Coolidge Generating Station, which is situated adjacent to the historically Black community of Randolph. The expansion project would lock in decades of new gas use with increased air pollution and adverse health impacts, the lawsuit contends.
The commission voted 4-1 in June to approve SRP’s revised and downsized Coolidge plant expansion, reversing a prior decision to deny a permit. The commission approved the expansion despite unanswered questions about the need for the project and the environmental impacts, according to the lawsuit.
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