Sierra Club Wants To Join Lawsuit Against Westar

JOHN HANNA

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — An environmental group said Tuesday it wants to intervene in an anti-pollution lawsuit filed by the federal government against Kansas' largest electric company.

Sierra Club attorney Bob Eye said the group filed a request in federal court to intervene. He said the Sierra Club won't raise new issues but offer its expertise and support the claims made against Westar Energy Inc. by attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The lawsuit, filed in February, deals with pollution controls at Westar's biggest coal-fired generating complex, the Jeffrey Energy Center, about 30 miles northwest of Topeka. Government attorneys allege Westar is violating the federal Clean Air Act by not installing proper pollution controls, which the utility disputes.

The Sierra Club had a news conference as part of a national anti-coal "Day of Action," with about 40 people standing behind Eye. Organizers chose a Lawrence Park overlooking the Kansas River because steam could be seen rising in the distance from another Westar coal-fired complex, the Lawrence Energy Center.

"It takes a fair amount of legal horsepower to deal with these issues," Eye said. "One of the functions of a case like this is to get utilities, generally, to back up and ask themselves some hard questions about whether or not they are in compliance with the Clean Air Act across the board."