The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Court of Appeals says state regulators didn’t adequately review plans for a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County and has rejected a permit allowing its construction.

The court on Wednesday ordered the Public Service Commission to conduct a new hearing on whether the plant should be built near Fulton. Judges on the court panel says the PSC needs to consider whether its decision to approve the plant was arbitrary.

The unanimous decision was written by Justice Karen R. Baker and had no dissenting opinions. Justice Josephine L. Hart wrote a concurring opinion. Justices Hart, Robert J. Gladwin, Rita W. Gruber, David M. Glover and Waymond M. Brown were listed as agreeing.

According to the court, the PSC failed to comply with a law that requires utilities to demonstrate environmental compatibility and public need. It said a study cited by Southwestern Electric Power Co. provided “little if any support” for the plant.

Paul Suskie, the chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission, did not immediately respond to a call for comment Wednesday.

Officials with SWEPCO, based in Shreveport, La., did not immediately return a call for comment. SWEPCO is a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, among the largest electric utilities in the country.

It has 111,000 customers in Arkansas, and 340,000 more in Texas and Louisiana. The utility also could sell excess power to other companies.

Regulators in Louisiana and Texas have already approved permits for the plant, which would have some impact on ratepayers in those states.

According to the Court of Appeals — Arkansas’ second-highest court — a study cited by SWEPCO ranked the woods near Fulton as seventh-best on a list of 10 potential sites.

Preliminary site work has already started in the woods near Fulton, about 15 miles from the Texas border in the far southwestern part of Arkansas.