COOLIDGE, AZ — The Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Corporation Commission challenging the board's decision to approve the controversial expansion of a natural gas plant near Coolidge.
The suit comes after the ACC voted 4-1 in June to approve a revised Coolidge plant expansion plan.
The most recent vote reversed the Commission’s decision in 2022 to deny a permit after residents of the historically Black community of Randolph, near Coolidge, and environmental groups had fought against increasing natural gas generation at the facility.
The Sierra Club is asking a judge to invalidate the ACC's June decision, claiming the original project's adverse impacts merited its denial and saying the ACC skipped necessary steps when approving the revised expansion plan.
The Salt River Project (SRP), which runs the Coolidge Generating Station, said expanding the number of generating units is necessary to meet the power needs of the rapidly growing community.
In order to get a compromise plan passed by ACC, SRP negotiated with some of the 150 residents in the area and their attorneys. the utility agreed to reduce the number of new generation units from 16 to 12. The expansion would also occur farther away from houses than initially planned.
In exchange, the residents of Randolph would receive more than $23 million in concessions for the betterment of their community.
These commitments would include money for a community center, money to repair homes and provide in-home air quality monitoring, scholarships and job training.
In the lawsuit, filed Friday, the Sierra Club claims ACC’s approval of the project was unlawful and unreasonable because the ACC’s determination was not supported by substantial evidence about the need for the revised project or its impacts.
According to the suit, the commission did not conduct an evidentiary hearing and violated due process at the meeting when the revised project was approved.
“It’s up to the Superior Court to ensure proper protocol isn’t ignored when utilities like Salt River Project propose a project that carries significant community and environmental harm and when the Arizona Corporation Commission ignores its responsibilities to ensure that people are heard," said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter.
