Oct 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Dennis Lien Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Saying South Dakota regulators ignored evidence of global warming, four energy and environmental groups have appealed that state's decision to approve construction of the controversial Big Stone II power plant near the Minnesota border.

The groups contend the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission wrongly disregarded evidence the coal-fired plant would increase annual heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions by millions of tons.

In testimony to the commission, they said the generating plant would send more than 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, a 34 percent increase over the 13.2 million tons the entire state now produces.

Big Stone II representatives did not dispute that estimate, instead maintaining that the plant's contribution would be small compared with the rest of the world. In July, commissioners said it wasn't their job to regulate carbon dioxide and approved a permit to build the plant.

The groups -- the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Fresh Energy, Izaak Walton League of America and the Union of Concerned Scientists -- disagreed and filed the appeal late last month in Hughes County District Court.

"We are saying the public utilities commission's decision that Big Stone was not a problem for the environment was arbitrary and capricious and wasn't based on the evidence," said Janette Brimmer, legal director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

Seven utilities, including Otter Tail Power of Fergus Falls, Minn., and Great River Energy of Elk River, plan to spend $1.6 billion to build the 630-megawatt plant next to an existing one near Big Stone Lake on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. The seven have 2.3 million customers in five states and want to increase their electrical-generating capacity.

Later this year, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will hear testimony on whether to approve transmission lines from the plant to customers in Minnesota. The four energy and environmental groups also oppose those lines.

Dennis Lien can be reached at dlien@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5588.