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Archive for the ‘Coal’ Category

Austin’s Fayette coal-fired power plant sued

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, tagged , , , , , on March 8, 2011 |

LCRA’s Fayette Power Project is under legal attack by three anti-pollution groups who filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Integrity Project, Environment Texas and Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Claiming LCRA’s Fayette Power Project has violated the federal Clean Air Act thousands of times, the plaintiffs allege LCRA ramped up capacity and increased levels of dangerous particle pollution, which is not always visible to the eye but is linked to asthma and heart and lung disease.

In addition, the groups claim the company under-reported the amount of particulate matter emitted from the plant’s smokestacks, and therefore deprived the State of Texas of more than $500,000 in annual air pollution fees.  Click here to access details of the lawsuit.

In addition to the lawsuit, the Texas Pecan Alliance, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and other community and environmental groups have been calling on Austin City Council to commit to the promises of clean energy in line with the Austin Energy Generation plan and have asked for the closure of this plant.

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Urgent Action Needed! – Coal Ash Battle in US Senate

Posted in Coal, Energy, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2011 |

The Senate is about to hear legislation pertaining to coal ash waste regulation. There is an amendment proposed to slash EPA’s funding so that they cannot enforce safeguards at coal ash waste landfills. The following is a message from our friends with Environmental Integrity Project. Please take a few moments to contact your senator and let them know you want enforcement of regulations on these very hazardous and dangerous waste sites.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for helping to influence 183 Representatives in the US House to vote against Congressman McKinley’s amendment to eliminate EPA’s funding to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste.  Eighteen Representatives were Republicans switching ranks to vote against their party’s leadership and for safe water.

Within one week we MUST defeat this amendment likely to be proposed to the budget bill (Continuing Resolution) that is brought to the floor of the Senate, or this egregious proposal to slash EPA’s funding could become a reality – leaving EPA unable to enforce basic safeguards at toxic coal ash dumps such as liners, covers or monitoring and thousands of American communities nearby in harm’s way.

Nearly a half million Americans submitted comments on the EPA’s proposed coal ash rules with a majority of them in support of safeguards.   More than a thousand concerned citizens who traveled to 8 day-long EPA hearings supported these safeguards.  Clearly, Americans have voiced their support FOR protection of our drinking water and public health by the US EPA.

Please call your Senators today and urge them to vote NO to any amendments to cut the US EPA’s authority to protect our health from toxic coal ash.
Use this link to find phone numbers for your Senators – you just need to type in your zip code: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

1.  Tell your Senators you want them to respect the rule-making process and the comments that their constituents submitted on the EPA coal ash regulation.

2.  Tell them to let the US EPA to do its job and protect public health.

3.  Ask them if you can count on their support for basic safeguards to protect public health from toxic coal ash.

After you make your call, please let us know you’ve made the calls and what their offices said.  Send your responses to: lwidawsky@environmentalintegrity.org.

Please let your US Senators know today that Americans throughout the country want to be protected – call them immediately and tell them to uphold our right to safe drinking water.

Thanks for your continuing help and please spread the word.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Student Activists Shut Down Coal Meeting

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2011 |

Great news from St. Louis! Students and other activists from “Green Action” (at Washington University in St. Louis) and Missourians Organized for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) entered the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark to disrupt a meeting of the National Coal Council – a federal advisory committee to the U.S. secretary of energy (see their extremely dramatic website here).

The meeting was to focus on carbon capture and sequestration technology, but was canceled do to the disruption and chants of “Coal is never clean” and, “Clean coal is a dirty lie.” The group was peacefully escorted out of the hotel by police.

The meeting was canceled, but members of the council stayed to enjoy the private lunch they had already ordered. I’d have a joke about that, but I’m not that funny.

See more details at Washington University’s independent newspaper: Student Life

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Rolling Blackouts, who’s to blame?

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , on February 2, 2011 |

A massive winter storm rolled through Texas last night causing 7,000 megawatts worth of power plants to shut down and in the wee hours of the morning, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator, declared an energy emergency.

ERCOT called on state energy suppliers to cut about 4,000 megawatts worth of power demand equal to about 2.9 million homes, leaving homes dark and without heat for up to an hour (some folks for even longer), causing some schools and businesses to shut and creating traffic snarls as traffic lights stopped working during rush hour. (more…)

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Where’s the Outrage? TCEQ Approves Las Brisas Pollution Permit

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2011 |

Chairman Bryan Shaw, Ph.D.

Commissioner Buddy Garcia

In a completely un-shocking and saddening display of administrative arrogance, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) commissioners Bryan Shaw and Buddy Garcia granted an air permit for the proposed Las Brisas coal plant. Commissioner Carlos Rubinstein abstained from voting due to being briefed on the permit when he previously served as deputy executive director.

The two commissioners who voted to approve the permit did so despite the fact that this permit has been recommended against twice by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) judges who presided over the contested case hearing and deliberated for months on the specifics.

Again today at the TCEQ hearing both judges recommended against issuance of the permit, and the TCEQ’s own Office of Public Interest Council also recommended denial of the permit.

In addition there were lawyers speaking for the thousands of members of the Clean Economy Coalition (based in Corpus Christi where the Las Brisas plant is proposed), Sierra Club, and EDF, all of whom are against issuance of this permit.  But after only 45 minutes of testimony during the public hearing, TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw recommended granting the permit application stating that he didn’t  believe the merits of the facts before the commission would require or warrant (the state agency to remand it), based on his understanding of the rules in place.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM-LmeAuJM]

Earlier this week, the EPA had asked the Texas commission to not issue the permit until the two agencies could work together to resolve various issues, stating that they were concerned about a lack of consultation with them and that the plant could violate federal clean air standards.  They further wrote that they had “strong concerns about the public health and environmental impacts” the plant would pose.

Commissioner Shaw said the EPA’s letter could not be considered because it was not part of the official record of Wednesday’s proceeding so it had no impact on their decision.

This permit is illegal, and the TCEQ commissioners have broken both federal (Clean Air Act) law as well as Texas law in granting it. The EPA also now requires greenhouse gas permitting for any new facilities permitted after January 1, 2011 – but the TCEQ commissioners wouldn’t consider any comments regarding this important factor. Still, Las Brisas will need to acquire such a permit from the EPA before they can begin construction, much less operation, of their proposed coal plant.

The facts in this case are clear. The permit does not meet the minimum standards necessary to protect human health and the environment, and the people who have actually investigated the particulars of this case have consistently and continually recommended against this permit.

Nevertheless, those who have the power to make the decision (the TCEQ commissioners) continue, as they have in the other coal plant cases, to ignore the concerns of the public, the medical communities, environmental groups, and even their own staff.  Instead they make these permitting decisions based on politics and act as a rubber stamp for pollution.

TCEQ is up for “sunset” review at the Texas legislature this year.  When asked at the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission hearing if the TCEQ had the authority to deny a permit, they answered yes, but given the history of new coal plant permits approved over the past decade, one would be hard pressed to determine what, if any, criteria would cause the state agency to exercise their authority.

In the months leading up to this decision, citizens from around the state have been letting the Sunset Commission know that they believed the TCEQ was broken, and they believe the agency that is supposed to protect our health and environment does the opposite.

The CEC and other people closely affected by this plant are outraged at this decision, but the whole state of Texas needs to be.

Although Las Brisas is the worst of the most recent coal plant permits to be issued by TCEQ there have been other, deficient coal plant permits granted within the last few months throughout Texas near Bay City, Sweetwater, and Victoria.

Please call your Texas legislator and ask them to ensure that TCEQ Commissioners will have to follow the decisions of the administrative judges who rule on these cases, instead of simply ignoring their concerns and the concerns of the public.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We arePublic Citizen Texas.

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Las Brisas coke-fired plant air permit considered by TCEQ tomorrow

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Global Warming, TCEQ, tagged , , , , on January 25, 2011 |

On Wednesday, January 26th, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will consider the air quality permit application for the Las Brisas Energy Center, a planned petroleum coke-fired power plant that just last month, two administrative law judges said does not meet emission standards.

Public Citizen, the SEED Coalition and Sierra Club have all argued that the 1,200-megawatt petroleum coke plant proposed near Corpus Christi should be held to the same air-quality standards as traditional coal plants.  The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) administrative law judges must have agreed, twice recommending denial of this permit because of major flaws in the permit application.

The three-member TCEQ commission will be on thin legal ice if it approves the application tomorrow considering the ALS’s actions to date.  Not to mention that the Texas agency seems to be locked in a death match with the EPA over the regulation of greenhouse gasses.  Nevertheless, were I a betting woman, I wouldn’t bet on them denying the permit.  What do you think?

[polldaddy poll=4444923]

The TCEQ meeting begins 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the agency’s headquarters near Interstate 35 and Parmer Lane. Click here for the agenda.

UPDATE:

We have learned that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has urged the TCEQ  to deny the air quality permit to Las Brisas Energy Center petroleum coke-fired power plant in Corpus Christi on grounds that the project has not demonstrated it can comply fully with the Clean Air Act.

EPA Deputy Regional Administrator Lawrence Starfield  sent a letter yesterday stating, “We continue to have strong concerns about the public health and environmental impacts of this project based on our review . . .  Neither EPA nor the public have had the opportunity to exercise their rights under the (Clean Air Act) to review the (Las Brisas’) demonstrations of compliance.”

Wonder if that changes the odds?

Yet another UPDATE!

Well, if that had been a real bet instead of just a poll then everyone who participated right up to the unbelievable decision would have won.  Of course, the odds that the Commission would have denied the permit were astronomical number : 1 . 

So the TCEQ approved the Las Brisas Energy Center’s air permit, their lawyer said he was dismayed that anyone would say anything bad about TCEQ doing their job.  Go figure.  That makes 3,032 for industry, 0 for the citizens of Texas.

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TPPF Energy Report Shows Lack of Vision

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Renewables, solar, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , on January 25, 2011 |

Keynote’s promotion of coal leans heavily on unrealistic view of the Texas energy market

In a forum held last Thursday the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) unveiled a report that attempts to sway the debate about Texas energy policy off its current trajectory – namely ideas put forward by high-profile Republicans officials like Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Senator Troy Fraser to help transition the state’s electric supply away from coal and towards natural gas.

Unfortunately, the report wasn’t precisely accurate in its representation of the facts. Here’s perhaps the most important chart in the entire TPPF report (entitled Texas Energy and the Energy of Texas co-authored by Dr. Steven Hayward who was the forum’s keynote speaker) with a couple modifications to try and make it a little more accurate:

Modified chart from TPPF report

As you will note from my (clearly marked) changes, TPPF was not presenting the actual cost of electricity from different fuel sources, but the cost of the fuels themselves. That makes the chart inaccurate since the cost of electricity also depends on things like the cost of building a power plant. Of course that’s a minor expenditure of only several billion dollars in the case of most coal and nuclear plants and hundreds of millions of dollars for natural gas plants.

The TPPF chart was also misleading in three important ways, and one can only really conclude that it was intentionally so. (more…)

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Dewhurst backing off his old coal shutdown position

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Global Warming, natural gas, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2011 |

After Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst‘s remarks, made during his session-opening luncheon just a week ago,  about his plans to push for “regulatory and fiscal incentives” to phase out the heavy-polluting coal plants that were built back to the 1970s and replace them with natural gas plants, the Lt. Governor is now back pedalling saying he’s NOT pushing for fast shutdown of Texas’ aging or inefficient coal-fired power plants.  Instead, he wants to gradually increasing the use of cleaner-burning, Texas natural gas through market-based incentives.dewhurst (coal vs gas)

Dewhurst backed off his earlier stance after the Dallas Morning News suggested the plan would mean lights out for Texas, since those old plants account for some 8,300 megawatts.

Coal vs gas could be yet another controversy as the 2011 session heats up. There’s pressure from the EPA and elsewhere for Texas to lower its pollution levels, and the feds show little sign of backing away from their efforts to regulated greenhouse gas emissions.

One thing is obvious, Dewhurst doesn’t want to caught in crossfire of the coal vs. gas battle.  Instead, he is falling back on standard industry language, meant to placate everyone.  “In order to meet our current energy demands and fuel our economy, Texas will continue to rely on the use of coal, wind, nuclear and solar power, in addition to natural gas, as part of our diversified energy portfolio.”

Oh for the days when occasionally a politician would take a position – right or wrong, popular or unpopular – and stand by it.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Sunset Commission hearing keeps going and going and going

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Good Government, Sunset, TCEQ, Texas Legislature, tagged , , on December 15, 2010 |

Here I am at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar people watching Christmas shoppers (for those readers not  from Austin, the Armadillo Bazaar is an annual artist Christmas venue which has been happening in our fair city for 30+ years and runs every day the two weeks before Christmas – yes they are here until 11pm on Christmas eve for those last minute shoppers).  I’m talking to people  about workplace giving and Texas environmental organizations while Jimmy LaFavre is performing about 300 feet away from me. 

At the same time. I’m streaming the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission hearing, which is finally getting around to TCEQ.   I can’t hear anything that is being said (what with that Jimmy Lafavre concert going on in the background), but I keep seeing folks, who showed up at 8:30 this morning ready to testify, finally getting to say their piece.  Many of them have a 3 to 8 hour drive home ahead of them.  All I can say is “Bless their hearts”, they are, in fact, the stuff of which Texas is made and I admire them greatly.

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Foreign imports of coal could drive energy prices up

Posted in Coal, tagged , , on December 15, 2010 |

China and India may increase imports of coal by 78 percent to 337 million metric tons next year, with China buying more than it exports next year.  This would  further drive up prices from the highest in two years as the imports divert supplies from Europe to Asia.

China added about 51 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity last year, more than half the total capacity of the U.K.  China will need 2 billion tons of coal over the next 10 years to fuel the country’s industrial development, and this increased capacity is expected to make them unable to meet their own needs from domestic supplies.

Currently, Texas gets 43% of its electricity from coal-fired plants and imports nearly two-thirds of the coal its power plants burn, sending billions of dollars out of state.  In just 40 years, Texas could be importing more than 80 percent of the energy required to meet its needs.  Imports will make the state–and the U.S. as a whole– highly vulnerable to price fluctuations and political upheaval. 

The state should carefully watch the importation of coal into Asia and Southeast Asia as it makes decisions about its energy future.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety and Health Act up for a vote in Congress tomorrow

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , on December 7, 2010 |

The explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 miners and introduced the country to a caricature of a heartless CEO, Massey Energy’s Don Blankenship (who just last week announced his retirement). If ever there was a moment for forward progress on workplace health and safety, it was in the wake of the Massey tragedy. The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety and Health Act would modestly increase the size of fines for endangering workers, make it a felony to cause the death of a worker by knowingly violating safety rules, protect whistleblowers who call attention to workplace hazards, and deter employers from delaying resolution of citations for violations of workplace health and safety rules. But the business lobby has prevented the bill from moving ahead.

Nevertheless, the House will be voting on the Byrd Mine Safety bill tomorrow afternoon.  Call your Congressman if you are concerned about mine safety and tell them to vote for this bill.

UPDATE

Today, December 8, 2010, Congressional lawmakers left workers in the dust when they failed to pass critical mine safety legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 214-193 not to pass the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act (H.R. 6495), which would have empowered the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to protect workers from unsafe workplaces, prosecute corporate bad actors and close dangerous mines.

This year saw several high-profile workplace tragedies, from the 11 workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon to the Tesoro refinery explosion in Washington state. The most deadly disaster occurred in April; 29 mine workers were killed when the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia exploded. These deaths were preventable and illustrate the dire need for the increased worker protections that this legislation would have provided.

The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act would have addressed shortcomings in MSHA’s enforcement authority and allowed it to respond quickly to accidents, withdraw miners from unsafe mines, and prosecute and collect fines from operators of mines with bad safety records. Lawmakers failed to recognize that workers should not have to risk their lives needlessly to earn a living.

For those who contacted their Congressman, thank you for your efforts.  Although the bill faces a much bleaker fate under the Republican-led House, Public Citizen calls on Congress to re-introduce the legislation in its next session – and to include protections for all workers.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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“Las Brisas” Coal Plant Recommended for Denial, Again!

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on December 1, 2010 |

The Las Brisas coal (pet coke) plant proposed for Corpus Christi has had its air permit recommended for denial by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) for the second time. The SOAH judges presiding over the case have stated in their “proposal for decision” that:

At this time, we are unable to recommend that the requested permits be issued, because we find that Las Brisas Energy Center, LLC… has not made the necessary compliance demonstration to ensure that emissions from the proposed facility would not contribute to air pollution through a violation of a NAAQS or the PSD increment, particularly in regard to particulate matter (PM).

Though not legally binding, a recommendation of denial by SOAH for a second time will, hopefully, have some impact on the TCEQ, who has the final authority for granting the permit.  However, the TCEQ has a history of simply ignoring SOAH, the public, and even their own staff in order to grant inadequate and inappropriate permits to large, industrial sources of pollution such as Las Brisas.

(more…)

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5th Circuit says Sandy Creek does not comply with Clean Air Act

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , on November 30, 2010 |

Last week, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals awarded a major victory to Public Citizen and Sierra Club in their long standing efforts to block the Sandy Creek coal plant near Waco when it ruled that developers improperly started construction without adequate clearance under the federal Clean Air Act.

The court overturned a district court ruling saying the developers of the Sandy Creek Power Plant should have been required to show that they would employ the “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) to limit the emissions of mercury and other pollutants once the plant was up and running.

In 2006 the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued the permit for Sandy Creek, relying on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  ruling from the year before exempting coal- and oil-fired generating plants from the MACT standard.

In 2008, an appeals court struck down the EPA’s earlier ruling and, even though construction had already started on Sandy Creek, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen filed a lawsuit arguing that work could not go forward because the plant had not shown it could meet MACT standard.

The district court sided with Sandy Creek because it had commenced with construction, and that, at the time, the plant was in compliance with the rules in place.

The circuit court said in its ruling that because the EPA was wrong to exempt coal plants from the MACT standard, Sandy Creek cannot rely on that exemption to continue construction without a proper permit, and sent the case back to the district court.

Click here to see the 5th Circuit’s full ruling.

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No Environmental Groups in the Navajo Nation

Posted in Coal, Consumers, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 26, 2010 |

Joe Shirley Jr., President of the Navajo Nation

Joe Shirley Jr., President of the Navajo Nation

I’m not (by any stretch of the imagination) an expert on Native American affairs, but there is an interesting and rather sad drama playing out in the Navajo Nation (a semi-autonomous Native American homeland covering parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico). The Nation also encompasses the Hopi Reservation, represented by the Hopi Tribal Council. Here is a USA Today article of September 30, 2009, in part:

PHOENIX — The president of the Navajo Nation joined other Native American leaders this week in assailing environmentalists who have sought to block or shut down coal-fired power plants that provide vital jobs and revenue to tribes in northern Arizona. (more…)

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Study finds Texas coal plants foul neighboring states’ air

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2010 |

Image by davipt via Flickr

Coal fired power plant

Coal-fired power plants in Texas are responsible for dozens of bad air days in neighboring states each year, according to a new analysis released by the Sierra Club.  The report attributes as many as 64 days of harmful levels of smog in Oklahoma to Texas’ coal plants. It also ties the plants to as many as 20 days of unhealthy air in Arkansas and up to 16 in Louisiana.

The report supports earlier concerns raised by Oklahoma officials about the potential impacts on their state from the nearly 30 coal-fired plants either operating, permitted or proposed in Texas.

The attorney general for Oklahoma asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency in May to require Texas to show that the new plants will not foul the state’s air before issuing permits for construction. (more…)

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