Every Austin City Council member has pledged to move Austin beyond coal and phase out of the Fayette coal plant. Please thank the City Council members for their bold leadership in moving Austin towards a clean energy future.
In more good news, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) last week officially rejected a water permit for the White Stallion coal plant after over 2,000 of you sent comments and demanded that LCRA not give another drop of our water to dirty coal. This LCRA victory comes on the heels of San Antonio's recent decision to shut down their Dealy coal plant and invest in clean energy.
These are huge victories for our Texas grassroots movement!
Since the 2009 Austin Generation Task Force, our volunteers have been urging Austin City Council to move beyond coal. You collected petitions, attended leadership trainings, hosted house parties, made phone calls, flyered events, contacted City Hall, and now your efforts have paid off!
Austin joins cities across the country that have recognized coal's health effects and increasing costs are too risky to sustain. It's no longer a question of IF Austin will move beyond coal; it's now a question of WHEN.
Our next goal is to work with Austin Energy and the LCRA to develop an aggressive timeline to shut down Fayette by 2016. If we succeed, Austin will be the biggest city in the country to phase out of a municipally-owned coal plant. This is an opportunity for us to lead by example, and we look forward to the challenge of making Austin #1.
These victories show that when we work together, we can build a cleaner, smarter energy future for our community. Thanks for all your help to get us there!
(Impressive organizing efforts from Sierra Club's push to get Austin to divest from coal-based electricity. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
We're making great progress moving Austin Beyond Coal.
In just two months, we've signed up 24 house party hosts and gathered more than 1,000 petition signatures demanding Austin Energy phase out of our city-owned Fayette coal paltn. We're well on track to meet our goal of 5,000 signatures by Earth Day 2012.
These efforts are getting noticed. Last week, Mayor Lee Leffingwell told the Community Impact Newspaper that he's "willing to entertain the option" of moving beyond coal.
Now we need to keep the momentum going...
We need as many people as possible to attend our Beyond Coal Town Hall on December 4th and show the decision makers that our grassroots movement is growing bigger every day. We'll also be presenting new policy research that shows the Fayette coal plant can be phased out in a cost-effective way, protecting Austin Energy rate payers from the rising costs of coal.
What: Beyond Coal Town Hall
When: Sunday, December 4th, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Where: Texas State Employee's Union Office, 1700 South 1st Street, Austin, TX 78704
RSVP:Click here to RSVP
This campaign is important because Fayette pollutes our air and wastes 5 billion gallons of water every year. But if we phase Austin out of coal, this will set an example for the rest of the country. Austin could become the biggest city in the country to divest from a municipally owned coal plant.
Let's work together to make Austin a leader of the 21st century clean energy economy!
(Austin is losing the sustainability race to San Antonio. It's time to wake up people and stop resting on laurels. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
San Antonio boldly goes where no Texas city has gone before... CPS Energy, owned by The City of San Antonio, announced earlier this week it will close its clunker 800+MW coal plant in 2018, invest heavily in local solar and natural gas electricity generation, invest heavily in attracting clean tech manufacturers, and build a 200MW "cleaner coal" plant. Read full Bloomberg article here: http://www.businessweek.com/ap...
Why? It's better economically. Their big plan will bring 800 to 1,000 green tech jobs to town by 2015 while eliminating millions of tons of airborne greenhouse gas emissions and toxic pollution.
Mayor Julian Castro, "San Antonio understands the nexus between sustainability and job creation."
Castro's leadership has some folks saying, "San Antonio will be America's greenest city."
Fayette area growers and producers point to damage from Coal Plant Sulfur Dioxide and Acid Gases
(Austin) Sierra Club and representatives of pecan growers and producers in Fayette and Colorado Counties in the Texas Pecan Alliance requested at an Austin City Hall press conference today compensation for losses resulting from pollution from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and City of Austin's Fayette Power Project coal plant.
"Over two dozen orchards and the livelihoods of my family and many of our neighbors have been seriously impacted by the pollution from Fayette coal plant," said Harvey Hayek of Hayek Farm and the Texas Pecan Alliance. "In 1980, the year after the coal plant went on line, we saw the abundant production out here drop and then in the Nineties, the trees began to die. Recently, I had to buy a bag of pecans at H.E.B. so my wife could make cookies."
Hayek and almost 50 people in the Texas Pecan Alliance met with LCRA officials and engineers from Austin Energy and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on November 16. Since the meeting, the TCEQ is considering additional monitoring, members of Austin City Council have set up meetings for further discussion, and the LCRA has denied Fayette coal plant contributed to pecan industry losses.
Dr. Neil Carman chemist and Clean Air Program Director, biochemical injury process, "Acid pollution from the coal plant falls on the leaves causing damage characterized by brown, dead spots, while the sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas from the plant emissions enters the sensitive leaf structure from underneath, biochemically attacking the leaves from within and eventually causing leaf loss and the death of the tree."
Mr. Hayek explained that it takes 220 leaves to produce a single pecan nut on a tree.
"This orchard has been in my wife's family for the past century. We want to recover from this damage. We want the air, water, and soil to be clean and safe enough to replant so my grandchildren can enjoy the abundance we enjoyed," said Hayek.
Hayek, Carman, and others in the Texas Pecan Alliance also expressed concerns about corrosion, water quality, coal ash waste, and human health.
Eva Hernandez, with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign in Texas said, "The pecan industry losses clearly show one of many direct economic blows from burning coal for electricity. From the Clean Air Task Force study, we also know that, on an annual basis, Fayette coal plant pollution is linked to almost 1,000 heart attacks, asthma attacks, cases of chronic bronchitis, hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and 37 early deaths. There are direct costs associated with these health impacts and we are talking about a devastating reduction in quality of life. We can do better and we deserve better. LCRA and City of Austin must phase out Fayette coal plant by 2020 and completely develop our energy efficiency and renewable energy future -- particularly solar power."
The Clean Air Task Force study, Dirty Air, Dirty Power: Mortality and Health Damage Due to Air Pollution from Power Plants can be found at:
Texas Pecan Alliance representatives from Fayette and Colorado county today delivered 'Vanishing Pecan Pies' baked by Austin residents calling themselves the Pecan Posse to the Mayor and Austin City Council Members, Cheryl Mele, Chief Operating Officer of Austin Energy, the City Manager's office, and to the LCRA. They explained that the pies symbolized "the growing awareness in Austin about Fayette coal plant pollution and growing support for clean air and sustainable conditions for local food."
Many thanks to Barbara Lawrence for sharing her story. For a clean healthy future, please visit www.cleanuptexasnow.org, take action to support a strong coal ash rule, and as always, be sure to follow us on twitter @texassierraclub
My name is Barbara Lawrence and I live in Freestone County Texas. My husband and I moved here when we retired for the peace and quiet of the country. The outdoor lifestyle. The clean air.
What a surprise awaited us. Freestone County is home to a very old, and very dirty coal fired power plant, Big Brown. Across the county line is another of the dirtiest in the country, NRG Limestone.
But wait, there’s more. Because we are a rural county many of the laws that apply to urban areas don’t apply to counties with populations under 100,000. So they just keep piling on the polluters, because there’s nothing to stop them. Can’t build somewhere else. Come to Freestone County. You can’t spit in this county without hitting a gas well. Or a compressor station, or a power plant, or a cement plant.
Apparently we don’t have enough voters to matter so our health and safety is not as important as those in larger counties. They can just throw us under the bus. Many of my neighbors are retirees. I guess we’re going to die sooner anyway.
There’s a local legend that when you get cancer and go down to Houston and MD Anderson they say to you–“you’re from Freestone County, you must live near that coal plant.” I can’t say that it’s true, but I hear it said a lot. My dentist told me that on the street where he grew up everyone has had cancer.
Since we moved here my husband sleeps with an oxygen tank and has a home breathing machine. He can’t spend too much time outside because the air quality is frequently unfriendly.
I’ve just learned about coal ash and the possible contamination of our drinking water. Given the high incidence of cancer in Freestone County, the poor air quality and the fact that we have multiple recreational lakes here that risk contamination we must implore the EPA to clean up the coal ash problem.
I never realized before that those mountains over by Big Brown were piles of toxic waste, and they’ve been burying it without strict regulations for 40 years.
(Great live coverage from a big event in Houston. Broad coalition of Texans working for clean air and water! - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
Hey all, We're live at the Discovery Green in Houston, moments from kicking off the Great Texas Clean Up Festival, what is being touted as the largest environmental event in Houston in decades. That's right, decades!
We'll be updating between acts and speakers, bringing you all the action and all the fun.
Juan Parras of Tejas (tejasbarrios.org) is calling the event a success before it even starts, simply because "it's brought a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds together to fight for environmental justice."
The speakers' lineup is pretty long and pretty deep- expect some food for thought from Houston Director of Sustainability Laura Spanjian and Representative Ana Hernandez, representing a large portion of the Houston area. We'll give you their comments when they happen!
From the unverified rumor-mill: there are Tea Party protesters nearby.
From the verified rumor-mill: there's a woman working for BP public relations going around with a flip cam asking people if the entire oil industry should be penalized for the spill. Spin much? We're onto you, sister.
Note: It's currently 105 degrees, but we've still got a turnout from people concerned with cleaning up Texas and having a good time (at the same time, of course). We'll be right back!
"PM Julia Gillard has vowed to ban dirty coal-fired power stations by drafting tough new standards on their design.
"The new standards were a key element of the Prime Minister's long-awaited climate change policy, released yesterday, which also included a pledge of $1 billion over 10 years to rebuild the nation's power grid to ensure energy generated in remote areas from renewable sources such as solar and geothermal energy was efficiently transmitted into homes.
"The standards will be set by the government in consultation with the states, the industry and environmental groups. Ms Gillard also offered $100 million in seed funding for companies developing renewable power technologies."
According to a report released last week by Navigant & Ceres --
"U.S. coal faces an array of challenges this decade. New U.S. EPA regulations to cut emissions of haze and ozone-causing nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and other pollutants are expected to force the retirement of about one-quarter of U.S. coal plants by 2015."
The report identifies coal plants in the 30 year old range as most likely to shutter. Austin's coal plants fired up in +/- 1980. The New York Times article goes on to say:
"Even in the absence of climate legislation, EPA and state regulations could lead to 45 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation being retired by 2020."
Facebook group, "Austin has a Dirty Secret," a local citizen's group pushing for replacing Austin's coal plant at the earliest possible date - has grown to nearly 800 members in the last few weeks. The group offers this description --
"Austin has a dirty secret" is focused on:
1) Drawing attention to the fact that Austin's coal plant is a clunker (rated#7 worst polluting industrial complex in TX by the TCEQ...)
2) Drawing attention to the fact that keeping the City reliant on said clunker = numerous, high stakes financial risks and negative human impacts
3) Offering quality information about available clean alternatives for Austin rate payers that save money.
(Sierra Club is working hard to protect our air and water in Texas. If you can be there on Tuesday, you need to be there. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
There are times in history when regular people have paused in what they're doing to fight for a cause bigger than themselves. We've walked out of classes when necessary. We’ve taken a personal day or called in sick in order to be at the place where a major change is being made. No matter how big the challenge, Texans always rise to the occasion.
This Tuesday, February 2, we have another historical opportunity to make change.
The Environmental Protection Agency is hosting an important public hearing on ozone air quality standards, and we have a real opportunity to clean up our air and set good policy that will last decades.
The Sierra Club and the Clean Air Texas Coalition encourage you to travel to Houston this Tuesday for this important EPA hearing. Please play your part in creating a desperately-needed change at this pivotal moment in history. Texas families have the right to clean air, and now is the time to stand up and make your voice heard!
We know that the big oil, coal and chemical companies will be well represented. So let’s show the powerful pollution lobbyists that we won’t be intimidated. Let’s show that regular Texans are willing to take time out of their day to stand up for clean air. There are only three public hearings across the country, so let’s take advantage of this opportunity to make real change.
If you can't travel to Houston, then please go online and submit your public comment in support of stronger ozone air quality standards.
