January 23rd, 2023: On Friday, the Maricopa County Superior Court upheld the Arizona Corporation Commission's decision to deny a siting permit for Salt River Project's (SRP) proposed expansion of the gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station in Pinal County, Arizona. SRP was seeking a certificate of environmental compatibility for a proposed 820 megawatt, $830 million expansion that would have more than doubled the size of the Coolidge plant. The Court’s decision is a great win for clean energy and environmental justice in Arizona.
The existing plant is located adjacent to the historic Black community of Randolph, which experiences environmental and health impacts from the existing plant. The proposed expansion would have increased air pollution, noise, and light impacts on the community of Randolph, and exacerbated already poor air quality in the region.
After SRP applied for a permit for the Coolidge expansion, Sierra Club and a group of Randolph residents intervened in the proceeding before the Arizona Power Plant Siting Committee, and presented evidence on the project’s environmental and health impacts and the availability of clean alternatives like solar and battery storage. In April 2022, the Corporation Commission voted to reject the project, finding that it was not in the public interest because of its significant negative environmental impacts on the Randolph community, and that SRP failed to adequately consider viable alternatives to the project.
SRP then filed a lawsuit in July 2022 challenging the Commission’s denial of the permit. Sierra Club and the Randolph residents each intervened to help defend the Commission’s decision. A trial was held earlier this month, where Sierra Club and the Randolph residents again presented evidence on the project’s impacts and the availability of alternatives.
The Superior Court’s ruling upholds the Commission’s decision to deny the certificate of environmental compatibility for the project. The Court concluded that the Commission’s findings were supported by substantial evidence and that the Commission acted within its authority to consider the project’s environmental impacts, as well as the need for the project and the availability of alternatives.
Sierra Club was represented by Environmental Law Program attorneys Matt Gerhart and Patrick Woolsey, with support from Gloria Smith, Louisa Eberle and Maddie Lipscomb, alongside local counsel Court Rich and Andy Turk of Rose Law Group. Credit also goes to Sierra Club managing senior analyst Cara Bottorff, who testified at trial; Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr; to BCC Representative Michael Hawthorne, who worked to organize Randolph residents; and Amy Dominguez in Communications.