SPRINGFIELD – The Massachusetts Appeals Court this week revived Palmer Renewable Energy’s controversial 15-year fight to build a power plant burning green wood in East Springfield.

Opponents included the Conservation Law Foundation and local officials, like City Councilor Michael A. Fenton. They derided the project – which survived multiple attempts to kill it – as a “Frankenpermit” that simply won’t go away, despite fierce local opposition

“Capable of terrorizing the good citizens of Springfield with the prospect of dirty air for decades,” Alexandra St. Pierre, an attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, said during oral arguments for the case conducted in October at Western New England University’s Law School.

In a ruling Wednesday, the state’s mid-level appeals court said that deadline extensions meant to prod development after the Great Recession meant Palmer Renewable Energy’s permits are still good and didn’t expire due to lack of action by builders.

“The court decision is disappointing, especially considering that Springfield community members and elected officials have said ‘no’ to this plant for a decade,” CLF Staff Attorney Suhasini Ghosh said in a statement Thursday. “The developer’s permits don’t reflect today’s laws and the facility will bring harm and pollution to a community that does not want or need more dirty air.”

Ghosh vowed that the foundation “will not stop in its fight for clean air for everyone in Springfield.”

Under normal circumstances, a building permit expires if work doesn’t begin within 180 days of the paperwork being issued. The city issued two building permits for Palmer Renewable Energy in 2011.

But things got complicated because the City Council — led by then-President Jesse Lederman — changed the zoning rules in 2013 requiring a special use permit from the council.

It was a virtual impossibility to secure that permit, given the neighborhood antipathy toward the biomass plant.

Palmer Renewable Energy has long proposed a 35-megawatt wood-burning plant for a site at 1000 Page Boulevard, next to an asphalt plant and an Interstate 291 off-ramp. The plant would be capable of powering 2,500 homes.

The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals and the lower state Land Court had ruled that the permits expired. Wednesday’s decision was based on an appeal of that ruling.

Separately, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has revoked the project’s air quality permit.

This is a breaking story that will be updated.