Louisiana Generating

Louisiana Generating is a subsidiary of NRG Energy. It supplies 100 percent of the power needs of Louisiana’s 11 electric cooperatives.

Proposed Coal Plants
Louisiana Generating has two proposals for new coal-fired power units:
 * Big Cajun I, a proposed coal plant in New Roads, Louisiana. According to the Sierra Club, Louisiana Generating is seeking to replace two of its natural gas turbines at Big Cajun I with a 230 megawatt (MW) coal-fired unit. A public hearing was held on July 12, 2007. Construction is projected to take approximately three years. As of April 2009, the Sierra Club lawsuit is still proceeding. Both parties' briefings were completed in March.


 * Big Cajun II Unit 4, a fourth plant at the existing Big Cajun site. On May 7, 2009, the Louisiana DEQ issued the draft modified Title V permit for public notice and comment for Louisiana Generating's new coal-fired unit at its Big Cajun II plant in Pointe Coupee Parish. The new permit will incorporate a determination of the maximum available control technology for hazardous air pollutants and plant revisions needed in order add a second fuel supply (high-sulfur bituminous coal). The agency is holding a public hearing on June 11, 2009 and written comments are due by June 16, 2009.

Louisiana Generating and Cajun II lawsuit
"On February 18, 2009, the United States filed a complaint against Louisiana Generating alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by operating the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant without also installing and operating modern pollution control equipment after the generating units had undergone major modifications. The complaint alleges that for more than a decade, the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant 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 and nitrogen oxide, contributing to formation of fine particulate matter, smog and acid rain. The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the EPA, asks the court to order Louisiana Generating to install and operate appropriate air pollution control technology in order to substantially reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant. The United States also seeks 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."

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Louisiana and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming
 * Coal