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Show Garn assails denial of power permit WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. D.C.-U.S. Senator Jake Garn (R-Utah) today termed the EPA's denial of a construction permit for the proposed Warner Valley Power Plant near St. George "arbitrary, premature, and arrogant." The Utah Republican said the EPA's stated reasons for denying the Nevada Power Company a permit to build the 500 megawatt plant "were inadequate and reflected and a built-in bias against the plant. "In the first place, the Nevada Power Company found itself in a position of being guilty until proven innocent," he said. "It was required to show it could construct the plant without harming har-ming air quality in Zion's National Park. Nevertheless, Never-theless, in a good-faith effort to comply, it commissionsed air impact im-pact analyses using acceptable techniques which showed minimal air quality degradation. "So what does EPA do? It evaluates the study, announces that it was 'too brief to produce reliable conclusions,' and then draws its own conclusion that the plant permit should be denied. Does the EPA have its own evidence that the air will be polluted? Why didn't EPA instead order a new study, if necessary, rather than making a premature decision based on a study which it said was 'too brief.' I believe that EPA's disregared for scientific data it commissioned reflects an institutional bias against the plant site," the senator added. The EPA, Garn said, "appears to be acting as judge, jury and executioner. The EPA condescendingly says it will 'consider a new application from Nevada Power offering alternate sites.' Now, isn't that gracious. I, for one, am fed up with EPA bureaucrats who run willy-nilly around Utah, denying reasonable requests and threatening the viability of existing plants, such as Geneva Steel." Garn said he will ask the EPA to justify its actions in this case, pending a full review of the Clean Air Act in the next Congress. |