In Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, a coal-fired power plant (112 MW) by Sendai Power Station started operating in 2017. It is co-owned by Kanden Energy Solution (a subsidiary of Kansai Electric Power Co.) and Enex Electric Power Co. (Itochu Corporation).

The capacity of the Sendai Power Station is just below the 112.5 MW threshold that requires it to be subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) by the national government, and therefore was built without an EIA performed. (At a later date, citizens succeeded in their demands for an EIA system to be introduced for coal-fired power generation in Sendai, but the Sendai Power Station was exempt as it had already been approved.)

In addition, just a few hundred meters from the power station is the Gamo Higata Tidal Flats, a habitat for several rare species of flora and fauna. This tidal wetland is still in the process of gradually recovering from major damage from the tsunami in the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and the local community has been vocally opposed to the construction of a coal-fired power plant so close to such a sensitive and important area.

Since most of the electricity produced here is sold to the consumption-heavy Tokyo region, Sendai citizens criticize the plant saying that “Tokyo gets the electricity, Kansai gets the profits, Sendai gets the pollution.”

Seeking an injunction to stop the Sendai Power Station, 124 citizens of Miyagi Prefecture filed a lawsuit as plaintiffs in the Sendai District Court on September 27, 2017. About 70% of the plaintiffs live within a radius of 5 km of the plant.