March 23, 2026: Environmental Hearing Board Denies Permittee’s Motion to Consolidate Appeals

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board denied Homer City Generation’s motion to consolidate the McIntosh youth appeal with the parallel Clean Air Council (CAC) appeal. While the DEP agreed with the Permittee that the cases should be consolidated, the Board disagreed, finding that the claims “are distinct with little overlap” and that binding the youth appellants to the slower CAC schedule “on a schedule they had no role in negotiating” would be unfair. 

In the ruling, EHB Judge Bernard A. Labuskes, Jr. stated that “The heart of the McIntosh Appeal is an overarching contention that the permitting of a facility that will release greenhouse gases in the volume authorized in this plan approval violates their constitutional rights.” 

The Board drew a clear line between the McIntosh appeal and the CAC appeal. The youth’s case is not about regulatory technicalities — Best Available Control Technologies (BACT) methodologies, emission reduction credits, or permit compliance procedures. It is a direct constitutional challenge: that issuing a permit for a facility that will emit greenhouse gases at this scale violates the fundamental rights of Pennsylvania’s children and youth. The Board clearly understood that distinction.