LEXINGTON – The Sierra Club, a nonprofit, conservation organization with some 4,000 members in Kentucky, has sued East Kentucky Power Cooperative, alleging a new boiler at its Spurlock coal-fired power plant in Mason County was constructed without proper permits.

The organizations says the inspections for those permits are conducted to ensure plants operate at proper levels for the “hazardous air pollutants it will emit.”

Local provider Big Sandy RECC is a member and cooperative of East Kentucky Power.

The Sierra Club sets out in its lawsuit that East Kentucky Power started construction on the Spurlock Generating Station near Maysville without first securing determination that emissions control would satisfy requirements of the Clean Air Act.

The suit states in its opening complaint the primary purpose is to “stop EKPC from illegally emitting from its Hugh L. Spurlock Generating Station ... pollutants which will cause cancer, birth defects and other illnesses in the people of Kentucky.”

In May of last year the organization said it notified the company of the requirements to obtain the proper inspections, but that the company continued construction.

“The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that coal-fired plants, such as Spurlock 4, emit 67 of the 188 individual hazardous pollutants Congress listed for regulation,” the lawsuit states.

One of the pollutants the lawsuit points out is mercury contamination, but also named are arsenic, dioxins, considered one of the most potent carcinogens, acid gases, lead and other heavy metals.

In late March of this year, East Kentucky Power customers saw an increase in rates following a settlement to allow the company to raise wholesale rates.

The new rates, which took effect on April 1 and saw an increase of $5.60 a month on average per customer, were intended to pay for the new Spurlock unit, the company said in a statement at that time.

The new rates, according to the company, would increase its annual revenue by about $59 million or 7 percent.