A PRIMER ON “FAST-TRACK” PERMITS

By Ella Tyler

Environmental activists from across the state will be meeting in Austin on February 11 and 12 to rally and lobby against issuing permits for proposed new coal-fired power plants under a fast-track procedure authorized by Texas governor Rick Perry in October 2005. The issue has been covered by NPR, Rolling Stone, and Fortune, but since none of the plants is in the Houston area or expected to contribute to our power supply, the controversy has not received much attention here.

A brief summary of the problem:
On October 27, 2005, Perry signed Executive Order RP49, which requires the Public Utility Commission to begin a campaign making customers aware of retail electric choices. RP49 also orders state agencies to develop plans for conserving energy and directs the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to “apply the full resources of the agency to prioritize and expedite the processing of environmental permit applications that are [1] protective of the public health and environment and [2] propose to use Texas’ natural resources to generate electrical power.”

Statewide, permits for nineteen coal-fired power plants are being considered under the fast track process. Eight of the proposed new plants circle Waco, three are in northeast Texas, and two are near Corpus Christi. The largest number of applications, eleven, were filed by TXU, the giant power company that supplies much of the Dallas area.

The additional coal plants would add 30,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, over 115 million tons of carbon dioxide, and nearly 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury each year, according to the Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition.

Because of wind patterns, those air emissions are headed straight for some of the most heavily populated areas of the state, but none of the plants are near Houston or in its wind patterns. Power for Houston comes from the Parrish coal-fired plant in Fort Bend County, one of the cleanest coal facilities in the country, according to Jane Laping, executive director of Mothers for Clean Air.

Also announced Thursday was a plan to build a new power plant in Fort Bend County that will use innovative gasification technology. The technology, known by the acronym IGCC, turns petroleum coke into a cleaner-burning gas. TXU says this process is not yet reliable and too expensive to adopt.

Nan Hildreth, with the Houston Climate Protection Alliance, believes that the proposed coal-burning plants will adversely impact the Houston/Galveston area because of increased mercury pollution in our waterways and because of carbon dioxide’s role in global warming.

As a result of the order, the TCEQ’s review of applications for has been accelerated to such a degree that opponents of the permits are seriously handicapped in their ability to oppose the applications. The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club says that some of the problems include scheduling hearings in different communities on the same day, with the result that residents affected by more than one plant could not attend both hearings; a six-month timeline for deliberations that would ordinarily take a year; and a strain on the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Another problem with the expedited process is illustrated by McClennan County (Waco), where four plants are planned. There are no pollution monitors in the county, so there is no way to determine if the emissions allowed by the permits would place the region in violation of federal air quality standards.

On Wednesday, state representative Charles “Doc” Anderson (R-Waco) has introduced HCR 43, a concurrent resolution requesting the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to put a 180-day moratorium on approving permits for new pulverized coal-burning plants in Texas. Matt Welch, a staffer in Anderson’s office, said that nine of the proposed plants are in a 50-mile radius of McLennan County.

Welch says that the delay would give the legislature a chance to act on several bills, including one to give incentives for the use of clean coal, rather than the pulverized coal most of the plants will use. “When Governor Perry made this decision, the legislature was not in session, but now it is, and wants time to consider other solutions to the problem,” Welch said. “Also”, he said, “The Supreme Court may rule on carbon sequestration and there is bipartisan support in Congress to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant.”

In a press statement, Rep. Anderson said, “”Governor Perry acted prudently in 2005 when he fast-tracked the permitting process for new coal plants. At that time the price of natural gas was more than $15 per MMBtu and two hurricanes had created serious production problems in the Gulf. Today, however, natural gas in the $7 range and the Gulf production capacity has been restored.”

“We now have time”, Anderson continued, “to carefully analyze the effect of creating new pulverized coal plants in Texas. There is not currently an electrical generating capacity crisis in Texas. Existing natural gas electrical generating plants are not operating at full capacity.”

Opposition to the plants is bringing together a diverse groups of Texas activists, including the regional office of the American Lung Association, Texas Cities for Clean Air (Arlington, Cedar Hill, Coppell, Dallas, DeSoto, Duncanville, El Paso, Fort Worth, Frisco, Hillsboro, Houston, Irving, Lancaster, McKinney, Plano, Rockwall, and Wylie), the Texas Business for Clean Air PAC (a group of 50 business executives in Dallas), a variety of environmental groups, the Texas Democratic Party, Texas IMPACT, People of Faith Working for Justice, and the Waco Chamber of Commerce.

Local opposition to the project comes from Houston Mayor Bill White, Greater Caddo Lake Association, Houston Climate Protection Alliance and the all the area’s Sierra Club groups.

TXU’s statement about its applications can be found at TXU’s website. Information about the rally and lobby day is at StopTheCoalRush.com.