Susman Godfrey wins victory for clean air in Texas

News provided by

May 16, 2012, 11:37 ET

DALLAS, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Susman Godfrey L.L.P., representing the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition, has won the reversal of a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality order granting a permit for the Las Brisas Energy Center to build a 1,200 megawatt power plant within a few miles of downtown Corpus Christi. The Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club also played prominent roles in the victory.

In a 7-page letter on May 14, Texas State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky outlined his ruling, which reverses the TCEQ's order on 4 separate grounds. Those grounds include LBEC's failures to commit to a plan for handling the petroleum coke fuel the plant would use and to demonstrate compliance with the EPA's 2010 standards for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.

In 2009 and 2010, the Coalition and the other protesting parties won two separate trials before Administrative Law Judges. The Judges recommended denial or remand of the permit after the 2009 trial and outright denial of the permit after the 2010 trial. The TCEQ nevertheless granted the permit by final order dated February 22, 2011. The protesting parties then appealed, and Judge Yelenosky's letter is the result of the successful appeal.

Susman Godfrey is one of the premier litigation firms in the U.S. – we have used our experience and trial skills to represent clients successfully in contested hearings at state agencies, such as the TCEQ's and Railroad Commission of Texas. The Susman Godfrey lawyers on the clean air trial team were Terry Oxford, Drew Hansen and Brian Melton.

www.susmangodfrey.com

SOURCE Susman Godfrey L.L.P.