DU’s Environmental Law Clinic along with WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit against Xcel Energy that claims the utility company violated the Clean Air Act.

Xcel, based in Minneapolis, disputes the claim and intends to fight it in court.

The Environmental Law Clinic gives students of the Sturm College of Law an opportunity to participated in a actual  cases. 

WildEarth Guardians, which works to protect and restore wildlife throughout the American West, claims that the operation of the Cherokee Station coal-fired power plant has repeatedly disregarded the federal law.  The lawsuit was filed Aug. 6.

WildEarth Guardians originally notified Xcel that it was violating the Clean Air Act standards in January 2008 and again in April 2009.

The lawsuit asks that Xcel be forced to comply with clean air standards and be fined $37,500 a day for each violation since January of this year. 

The suit states that “by law, Xcel shall not allow or cause the emission of any pollutant into the atmosphere in excess of 20 percent opacity, must continuously monitor opacity and must report any deviations of these requirements.” 

The lawsuit cites Xcel’s own as proof that the power plant has continuously ignored monitoring limits of opacity on smoke emitted from the smokestacks.

Opacity, or density of smoke, is an indicator of particulate matter in the emission.  The pollutants include soot, toxic metals and acidic gas droplets.

Particulate matter can induce serious respiratory and pulmonary problems such as bronchitis, asthma attacks and heart attacks. 

By law, Xcel is required to continuously monitor opacity levels of its plants’ emissions.

With the help of a professor, Environmental Law Clinic student lawyers research, work with clients and even present arguments in court.

Currently the Environmental Law Clinic is also working on a number of cases to protect endangered species like white-tailed prairie dog, the checkerspot butterfly and rare species of macaws, parakeets, cockatoos, and parrots.

Xcel is Colorado’s largest utility, providing power to 70 percent of the state’s population and the Cherokee Plant is the largest coal burning power plant in Colorado. 

The plant is comprised of four coal-fired burners, burning more that 2 million pounds of coal per year and three smokestacks, making it the second biggest source of carbon dioxide in the state.