Last week, hundreds of students and community members from Corpus Christi, Texas, disappointed with the carelessness of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's permitting policy, began appealing directly to the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement offices.
The proposed petroleum coke plant, the Las Brisas Energy Center, was proposed in 2008 and is currently undergoing the contested case hearing process to obtain a permit. The hearing, conducted by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, will result in a non-enforceable recommendation made by the Administrative Law Judges to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The hearing is set for late October.
"We decided that we can't wait while the TCEQ issues a questionable flex permit to the Las Brisas Energy Center. So we decided to gather petitions at our university calling on the EPA to intervene and sent them directly to Gina McCarthy, the head of enforcement at the EPA and assistant to Administrator Lisa Jackson" states Daniel Lucio, student at Texas A & M, Corpus Christi.
"We have a real problem with the TCEQ's permitting process," says Jim Klein, chair of Corpus Christi's Clean Economy Coalition, "Chairman Bryan Shaw and Commissioner Buddy Garcia have stated that a case by case MACT analysis is not needed for this plant, and we know that this flex permitting isn't complying with the federal Clean Air Act."
Hal Suter, of the local Sierra Club, explained, "Over a hundred of us took action and called, emailed, or signed a petition that went directly Gina McCarthy's office last week, because we can't wait while this dirty petroleum coke plant, Las Brisas, moves forward."
There's a very thorough new study funded by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation – yes, old oil and gas money – by former Deputy Comptroller of Public Accounts Billy C. Hamilton, that says with a modest commitment to renewable energy, Texas could add 22,900 new jobs a year through 2020.
We are talking 220,000 jobs, $280 million per year in local and state taxes and a growth in the Texas GSP of $2.7 billion - per year.
The study, an exhaustive 120 pages reviewing Texas's electricity market and variouspolicies, found that if Texas were to increase its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard by some 13,000 MWs of clean power, including a required solar commitment of 3,500 MWs, some 20 percent of Texas's electricity would be either wind, solar, or biomass, even as coal plants went from some 19% to some 16% in electricity.
That's right, folks.
The study assumes no carbon tax or cap and trade legislation takes place, but just making a commitment to clean energy would help transition us away from dirty coal toward clean energy.
The study also discusses other policies beyond the expansion of the RPS that could help –including tax incentives, a true net-metering policy – where homeowners are actually paid a fair value for any electricity they generate from solar panels– and making sure that Homeowners Associations stop outlawing solar panels.
Hamilton is going around from Texas city to Texas city to join up with leaders like State Senator Kirk Watson.
Join the conversation. Texas leads the nation in wind development – already over 10,000 MWs installed -- we can do the same in solar.
By Cyrus Reed, of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Follow us at @texassierraclub
We know about the Bad Health Brigade, and that coal ash contains toxic amounts of them, but there's an insidious friend of theirs that just isn't getting any attention at all.
Burning coal can produce Radon (it's actually TENORM, technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials), Polonium 210 and Lead 210- and it can be emitted as solid radioactive material, as gases, and as both.
For example, Radon gas emissions at the proposed NRG coal-fired power plant result from its presence in the coal, which means that alarming quantities of radon gas will be released into the air during large-scale coal combustion.
Radon gas emissions at the proposed Oak Grove plant result from the presence of radon in the coal, and significant quantities are released into the environment. The highest potential concentrations of radiation would be in the Robertson County area closest to the oak grove plant.
However, there is NO information about the average concentrations of radon and its radioactive relatives in the coal in the permit application, the TCEQ's technical review, or the draft permit for the Sandy Creek plant.
The Law:
1) TCEQ's Regulatory Definition of "Air Contaminant" in state law includes "radioactive material".
2) Radon is a radionuclide classified as hazardous air pollutant/HAP under Title III of the Clean Air Act.
Why isn't the TCEQ regulating radon exposure to radon and its carcinogenic byproducts? Well, they don't regulate much.
Has any radiation been detected near coal plants? In Texas!?
Yes.
The U.S. Geological survey conducted extensive flyovers of the US looking for radiation hotspots. Every coal-fired power plant had two radiation hotspots. One for the coal and one for the coal ash piles.
The highest concentrations would be in the Robertson County area closest to the Oak Grove Plant. Radon gas emissions at the proposed Oak Grove coal-fired power plant results from its presence in the coal, and significant quantities of radon gas are released into the air during large-scale coal combustion.
Get involved, fight coal ash at www.cleanuptexasnow.org
The EPA has proposed two rules to regulate toxic coal ash, and they're going to hold only five hearings across the country to hear from citizens. One of those hearings is going to be in Dallas, Texas, on September 8th, so we are putting all hands on deck to make sure that there's a powerful voice demanding a strong coal ash rule.
Not sure what coal ash is? It's all the waste produced when burning coal (you can imagine how toxic it is). It may look like dirt, but it tastes like a Superfund site: monitoring data at 31 coal ash sites found arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium, thallium antimony, mercury, boron, sulfate, and more exceeding drinking water standards in groundwater at 26 of the sites.
Right now, coal companies are free to put it wherever they like, usually in ponds, landfills, and uncovered earthen pits.
The EPA has proposed a strong option, which would classify coal ash as hazardous waste, and under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Subtitle C, the EPA would have the power to federally enforce the following requirements: getting a permit for a disposal site, require effective clean-up in the case of a leak, groundwater monitoring, and storage sites. The soft option means continuing to classify coal ash as solid waste, which means that the regulation would be state-to state and enforcement would depend on the oh-so-easy citizen lawsuits. If you remember Pirates of the Caribbean, the soft option is kind of like Pirate Code. It's more of a guidelines, really, which means Elizabeth Turner is still going to be a prisoner on the Black Pearl and coal companies are still going to dump coal ash wherever they like.
Not sure how destructive this can be? See what happens when 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge destroy a Tennessee community.
This was an obvious destructive catastrophe, but coal is a silent killer too. Living near a coal ash site is like smoking twenty, yes, that's right, TWENTY packs of cigarettes a day. Except if you live near a coal ash site, you can't just quit. You have to leave your home.
In Texas alone, the Brandy Branch Coal ash dump, the Southwestern Electric Power Co. coal ash dump, and the Texas Utilities Electric Martin Lake Reservoir have leaked elevated levels of selenium and toxic metals. There are no leachate collection systems in Texas, and there is no groundwater monitoring. It's worse than using a plastic bag for your goldfish- it's definitely going to leak.
But it's not just about coal ash. This is about making sure that polluters are responsible for external costs. This is about making sure that when there is environmental impact, the burden of responsibility falls on those who are responsible for the impact, not for those who suffer the collateral damage.
(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!
File under "hugely important issue to everyday Texans that most of us know nothing about." Three prominent pro-citizen activists have been working hard to draw attention to a proposed rule change by the Supreme Court of Texas that would actually increase the ability of anti-consumer special interest groups to influence legislation and regulation here in Texas. SCOTX has proposed allowing lobbyists and special-interest groups to meet privately with state agencies before companies file applications for permits. In other words, Big Money will be able to enter through the back door and make sure they get their approval before the public even knows what's going on.
This comes at a time when lax regulation and enforcement have led to an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, when TCEQ has all-but-refused to follow EPA standards, and when state environmental agencies are refusing court orders to provide lawmakers with documents about the very back-door deals the SCOTX is trying to make fair game.
Three of the state's leading authorities on environmental and energy issues--Ken Kramer, director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, Jim Marston, founding director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense Fund, and Tom "Smitty" Smith, Director of Public Citizen's Texas office--are calling attention to this outrage in the hopes of educating Texas citizens about this potential travesty.
This change will have terrible consequences for the citizens of Texas who care about regulation and enforcement, as special interests will be given even more control over the process. By the time the public finds out about regulatory hearings and opportunities to provide input, the decisions will have already been made behind closed doors. We the people don't even have a chance to weigh in. SCOTX is trying to take public accountability and transparency and replace it with back-room deals that take place behind the scenes, outside of public view.
The following public statement on this issue, written by Marston, Smith, and Kramer was sent to BOR by folks involved in this process, emphasis mine:
Regular Texans Getting Written Out of the Process by Back Room Rule Changes
As reported by Mary Alice Robbins in this week's Texas Lawyer magazine, the Texas Supreme Court has proposed a rule change that would undo a Professional Ethics Committee opinion that restricted secret contacts by lawyers with state agency decision-makers. Specifically, the court's current proposal would allow lawyers for polluters and other industry representatives to have unrestricted access to key agency personnel at any time before the actual filing of an application with the agency.
The public participation process in Texas is already flawed - recently the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule to disapprove of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ) public participation program,
saying it "provides inadequate opportunities for the public to review permit decision in Texas, as compared with public participation opportunities provided by other states." We cannot afford to take another step backward.
In Opinion No. 587, the court's own ethics committee had ruled that the current ethics rules for lawyers prohibit such "ex parte" communications with agency decision-makers. The court's proposed rule change would completely reverse
that ethics ruling.
The potential adverse impacts on the public and consumers are immense. Lawyers for polluters, electric companies, insurers, and other corporate interests would have free access to those agency deciders to help "grease the skids" - before the public even knows what's coming.
It's pretty easy to win a completely one-sided argument. If the public doesn't know what a lawyer/lobbyist is getting ready to file, and doesn't know about the pre-filing secret meetings and contacts, the process can be just that one-sided and unfair.
We need more ethics for lawyers, not less, and more protection of the Gulf of Mexico and Texas air and water, not less.
For too long the Texas Supreme Court rule-making process has operated in obscurity. The rules have been written by lawyers, for lawyers and for their powerful clients. Court members and hand-picked lawyers have been writing these proposals over the past seven years-the public has not been invited to participate.
This year, other rule proposals also threaten public interests. For example, Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey recently (4/29/10 "Coddled Lawyers Complain") described how another rule change proposed by the Texas Supreme Court would make it easier for Texas lawyers to charge unreasonable fees and unreasonable expenses. (By contrast, the corresponding American Bar Association model rule flatly prohibits both unreasonable fees and unreasonable expenses.) Casey also explained how the court recently refused to adopt a rule recommended by its own committee to require a lawyer to tell a client if the lawyer is uninsured.
The point is that we Texans need to pay attention to what the Texas Supreme Court is doing with these rule changes. The rules can affect us just as much as the court's written opinions. Unless the Texas Supreme Court changes its mind, these anti-public/anti-ethics rule changes are likely to go into effect at the end of the year. (Three members of the court are up for election in November.) Between now and then, Texans should let the court know that it is headed in the wrong direction. The court should protect the public from back room deals and lobbyist influence, not open the doors of our state agencies for more of those abuses.
It should come as no surprise that the SCOTX is entirely populated with Republicans. They've shown a horridly anti-consumer, anti-citizen bias over the past years, routinely overturning decisions in order to bolster special interests. In Texas these days, it seems like you need deep pockets and special friends to get a fair shake these days, even on our supposedly-impartial statewide civil court.
Just getting good folks elected to office isn't always enough. We need to hold our state agencies accountable, and make sure that they're focused on doing their jobs and serving all of the people of Texas, not just those with the deepest pockets.
Texas is at an energy crossroads. We led the world in the production of dirty energy during the 20th century, but we also have the potential to lead the 21st century clean energy economy.
Join the Sierra Club's grassroots campaign to convince Texas legislators to invest in green jobs. Let's show the world that Texas is ready to lead! If you'd like to help support the Sierra Club's 2011 legislative agenda to support clean energy, then please contact Eva Hernandez to volunteer, eva.hernandez@sierraclub.org.
There are many reasons for hope, click below the fold to learn more...
Last week, President Obama’s EPA made an announcement that will spring Texas forward to cleaner air!I love the idea of being able to run on Lady Bird Lake trail without wheezing on certain days.And, I love the idea that the number of ozone alert days could go down. The children I'd like to have someday might not have to stay inside the classroom like kids have to now on Ozone Action Alert days.
Here’s the big news.The EPA proposed an improvement to the federal clean air standard for ozone to a range of 60 to 70 parts per billion -- This step could signficantly lower ozone pollution across the state!The EPA will soon ask for public comments from you. The Sierra Club is already taking action to support the new, proposed rule!After the public comments process, the rule will become finalized by August 31 of this year.
The announcement came January 7 from the EPA in Washington.Texas is going to be one of the states impacted most because despite our beautiful dream of wide open space and big blue skies on the frontier, both urban and rural Texans are breathing some of the dirtiest smog in the nation.In anticipation of the EPA’s announcement, the American Lung Association in Texas, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Texas State Legislators including Senator Kirk Watson and Representatives Lon Burnam and Eddie Rodriguez environmental groups and local citizens impacted by air pollution in our state eagerly welcomed the decision at press conferences in Austin (News8 Austin video), Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
You Don't Have to be a Doctor to Know
Why is Obama’s EPA doing this?The proposed rule revises a much less protective proposal from the Bush Administration.The Bush EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) went with a less than adequate standard (and little enforcement of that!) despite the obvious damage it would cause to our health and air quality.The ozone limits announced today meet recommendations from the EPA’s scientific panel based on 1700 scientific studies, many indicating that ozone is a lot worse for our lungs than we previously knew.
At Wednesday’s press conference at the State Capitol, Dr. Don Williams pointed out that “You certainly don’t have to be a doctor to know that brown haze is not good for your lungs.” Dr. Don compared ozone to lead explaining that we didn’t know how dangerous lead was until we found out through research.Breathing Ozone can kill.When we breathe in smog, it burns and damages the respiratory system like a sun burn might burn the skin.It can lead to further respiratory illnesses like cardio-pulmonary obstructive disorder and heart disease.According to the American Lung Association, even short term increases in ozone have been found to increase deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory problems.That’s why this new ozone limit is so important.
After the comment period and finalization of the new standard, Texas’ multi-county, regional Councils of Government and the TCEQ will create and submit State Implementation Plans to the EPA that will identify the sources and ways we’ll reduce emissions. That’s really good news for all of us breathers.
We can look at where ozone comes from.Ozone comes from nitrogen oxides (NOx) and Volatile Organic Compounds emitted by large industrial facilities -- coal plants, cement kilns, refineries, and chemical plants, but also from smaller yet hugely numerous sources like our vehicles in traffic, heavy, off-road construction equipment, gasoline stations, paint shops, and natural gas drilling.
First Step, Halt Proposed New Coal Plants
One of the easiest ways to control NOx emissions is to go after the largest ‘single point sources’.Because coal plants create almost 35% of all industrial ozone, Texas must reverse the Texas coal rush.We have to stop building new coal plants and we have to phase out the dirty, existing coal plants.We have to and we can make a transition to clean power.
Texas doctors and nurses have been focusing more and more on the coal-fired power plants.Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is speaking out because they recognize burning coal for electricity is terrible for people’s health.Along with Dr. Don, PSR spokespersons Dr. Stuart Abamson, a pediatric children’s hospital, asthma & immunology specialist spoke at the Houston press event and pediatrician Dr. Karen Lewis spoke at the Dallas event last week.
In Corpus Christi, Dr. Bruce Taylor, pediatrician, anesthesiologist and a member of the local Clean Economy Coalition spoke about the problems presented by Chase Power Development’s plans to build an ironically named ‘Las Brisas’ -- Spanish for ‘the breezes’, coke-powered plant.(Coke emits NOx and is regulated like coal.) Las Brisas would put out more pollution than the 6 refineries currently operating in Corpus Christi combined including 3,776 TONS annually of ozone-forming, asthma-causing NOx.Just up the coast, citizens and elected officials are looking closely at the proposed White Stallion coal plant, planned in Matagorda County just south of the Houston-Galveston ‘non-attainment’ area.Las Brisas and White Stallion would add up with the 9 other proposed coal plant projects in Texas to equal 27,013 TONS per year of additional NOx in our air.That’s why Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, and local environmental groups and individuals around the state are fighting these new coal plants.Placing a moratorium on any new coal plant permits and reconsidering all recently permitted coal plants would be one easy way to help meet the new ozone standard.
DMN to Perry: Get Over It
This week, Governor Rick Perry and the TCEQ continued to fight the Obama Administration’s clean air and climate protection plans while editors at the Dallas Morning News want Perry to get over it.They want the state to now ‘get started on a serious ozone reduction strategy.’
A reporter at the Austin press conference asked a good question, ‘What will make Texas local and state government clean-up the air?’
Good question.If you ask me, the reason coal plants have been polluting Texas is because the Bush Administration EPA failed to act, and the TCEQ under Governor Perry’s appointees went right along.We have a new administration now and a new EPA that is willing to enforce the law to protect public health.What can happen?For one thing, the EPA has the ultimate say over the State Implementation Plan so EPA can require serious, health-based permitting plans.If regions around the State don’t reach ‘attainment’ of the clean air standards, they can lose federal highway funds for one thing.
Clean Energy Solutions
Texas is now at an energy crossroads.Businesses are looking for clean energy solutions.The Texas energy industry can seize this huge opportunity to turn away from coal and create green jobs and wealth by building their part of the new clean energy economy. We have the smarts in this energy savvy state.Texas received more money for energy efficiency programs like home weatherization than any other state in the country after New York.We have the renewable power resources. Texas generates more wind power than any other state in the nation, and we have incredible solar power resource.
Sierra Club, other environmental groups, and our partners in the medical community applaud the EPA for taking this step in the right direction.The only way we’ll get our cities back into attainment of the clean air standards is to stop any new coal plants from being built, and to phase out and shut down some of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants.We are calling on the EPA to halt the permitting of any new coal plants in the state of Texas and to help TCEQ prioritize which of the dirtiest old coal plants to phase out first.
State Legislators are ready to take action.As Senator Kirk Watson said at last week’s announcement, “Our goal…should be to make sure that we all get the air we need to breathe well, have fun, work productively, and keep our region competitive with areas that can offer companies and workers unmistakably clean air.Non-attainment isn’t something to be afraid of.”
Today’s the last day to formally ask the EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act in Texas.
Sierra Club our environmental partners, bicyclists, medical communities, and interfaith partners delivered comments last week from more than 2,000 Texans to officials at the Region 6 headquarters of
the EPA in Dallas and we want them to hear from even more of us today!Here’s the story on KERA public radio in Dallas.
What’s all the fuss about?More and more Texans are realizing that Texas is in the problematic position of having more proposed coal plants than any other state in the nation.With 12 in various stages of construction or permitting challenges, Michigan, second worst with 4 planned coal plants, leaves Texas in the really big dust.
Texans are learning that coal plants make people sick.Medical practitioners have become increasingly involved in opposing Texas coal plants – particularly in Corpus Christi, the site of the proposed Las Brisas pet coke plant; in Austin, which could become the first municipal utility in the state to reject coal; and in Dallas, which is downwind of the majority of Texas existing coal plants and has been in non-attainment of federal air quality standards.At the EPA last week, Dallas-based pediatrician, Dr. Karen Lewis with Physicians for Social Responsibility said, “Coal plants in Texas emit huge volumes of heavy duty respiratory toxins and we're seeing skyrocketing rates of asthma and respiratory illness in children.”Dr. Lewis addressed mercury pollutionwhichleads to developmental and neurological disorders in children, “Doctors recommend that pregnant women not eat large fish and limit their intake of smaller fish, but can we talk about where the mercury in such otherwise healthy food as fish comes from?The bottom line is that we shouldn’t be building more coal plants in Texas.”
There are other reasons to fight coal plants.Coal plants cost too much.And, costs are rising as new, more protective clean air standards become law.The new standards will place many additional regions of Texas in ‘non-attainment’ status jeopardizing federal funds and they will require coal plants to install costly new scrubbers. Texans don’t need to foot this bill when we live in a state with so much clean energy know-how and wind and solar resource.
Coal plants also cause global warming and use enormous amounts of water.This is a serious problem in Texas where we experience extreme drought.
Fortunately, more people are becoming actively involved.People are hearing about the second wave of the Texas coal rush in part thanks to Forrest Wilder’s Texas Observer article ‘Coal Star State’ and also thanks to hundreds of Sierrans, our environmental partners and bicycling community friends who came out to Roll Beyond Coal at rallies, bike rides, and hikes in five Texas cities on October 31.Sierra Club’s long time chemist, former state regulator, and clean air warrior, Neil Carman believes that the recently appointed new EPA Administrator at Region VI in Dallas can make a difference in the coal plant fight.
We got a hopeful sign last week when a company decided that it won’t import PCBs and burn them in Port Arthur.He thinks the new EPA can also intervene on TCEQ’s habit of permitting big coal polluters.
Sierra Club will continue challenging coal plants in Texas and we need your help!Let the EPA know today that you want them to block Texas coal plants and take a serious look at the 17 existing coal plants.
Hundreds of Texans from all walks of life rallied to Roll Beyond Coal on Halloween, Saturday, October 31.
There were 200 people in Dallas including speakers -- Representatives Carol Kent, Lon Burnam, Robert Mikloss, and Dallas Council Member Linda Koop.
There were 200 also in Austin including MC Ian Davis and speakers Representative Eddie Rodriguez, Austin Council Member and bike advocate Chris Riley (He stood up for the City's Climate Protection Agreement) and Dr. Kimberly Carter of Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility (She really nailed the seriously SCARY part of the Halloween message about Texas coal pollution).
100 oeople came out in the sparking city by the sea, Corpus Christi where their Clean Economy Coalition is in a contested case hearing this week along with Sierra Club over the proposed and quaintly named Las Brisas, 'the Breezes' coke plant. Corpus speakers included two physicians -- a family practioner from Aransas Pass, Dr. Lorraine Stehn, pediatrician Dr. Kevin Hopkings, Stacy Barrera, President of the TAMU-CC Young Democrats, former REpresentative Arnold Gonzales and Hal Suter of the Sierra Club.
There was also 50 people rolling beyond coal in Beaumont and 35 in Alpine, Texas. Calmly scared half to death about rising coal costs, health and environmental impacts of 12 new Texas coal plants http://www.texas.sierraclub.or... , they are taking action to stop the second wave of the Texas coal rush and promoting instead clean air, clean power, green jobs, and the availability of water in the future.
Coal Plant Pollution means Attainment of Federal Air Quality Standards Shot to Hell
"These 12 new coal plants are a significant jump to the 17 operating coal plants we already have in Texas," said Rita Beving with Dallas Sierra Club. "Whether it's the nearby plants being built east of Waco or the one proposed as far away as Abilene, the wind carries coal plant pollution north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and will only exacerbate our ability to reach attainment."
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is currently in non-attainment of required federal clean air standards, as is Houston and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area. Austin, San Antonio and the north east Texas area have early action compacts and are near non-attainment. New federal air quality standards coming this Fall (70 ppb)will mean that several additional regions of Texas will go into non-attainment.
Many states around the nation have dropped plans for coal plants, letting Texas run far ahead in a horrible lonely lead in the opposition direction. With Michigan trailing at only 4 proposed new coal plants, Texas has the largest number still moving in various stages of permitting - contested case hearings, appeal, and construction. With the grotesque rate of acceptance of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), a whole army of new coal plants could go online next year emitting their enormous tonnage of pollution as they rev up to a full-throttled, smog-spewing, global warming, lung-clogging, nerve-shattering, mind-numbing, and heart-stopping blast of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, and carbon dioxide. See the fact sheet list of the proposed coal plants in Texas and the gory truth on their cumulative emissions numbers.
Human Health Impacts http://www.texas.sierraclub.org/press/newsreleases/HealthImpactsfromTexasCoalPlantPollution.pdf
Corpus Christi cardiologist, Dr. Greg Silverstein said, "In Corpus Christi, we already experience twice as much asthma as the state average. If the Las Brisas petcoke plant is allowed to go forward with the huge annual emissions of smog and smoke in their permit application, we
will see a significant increase of even more asthma in Corpus Christi and the surrounding towns. I am concerned about my patients and all the people of Corpus Christi."
Coke is regulated similarly to coal and it emits the same nasty pollutants. See just what effects coal and coke plants have on human physiology in the attached Fact Sheet.
Coastal Bend doctors of the Nueces County Medical Society and the Tri-County San Patricio-Aransas-Refugio Medical Society passed resolutions opposing the permitting of the hilariously-named Las Brisas (the Breezes) coke plant. Corpus Christi citizens from all walks of life united across class, Hispanic and Anglos, men, women, children, and the elderly crowded into a room that couldn't contain their opposition at last February's preliminary hearing in which a large number of individuals and organizations including the Clean Economy Coalition and the Sierra Club received 'standing' for a contested case hearing which began today, Monday, November 2.
Clean Energy Solutions and Green Jobs on the brighter side of the Dark Ages
"There are many reasons to oppose coal plants - they cost too much, make people sick, contribute to global warming, and use enormous amounts of water," said Eva Hernandez, Regional Organizer for Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "Another reason is that they are a huge dangerous diversion from the clean power and green jobs economy that Texas is so perfectly suited for and already leading."
Roll Beyond Coal is a project of Sierra Club's Climate Recovery Partnership and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. In Texas, Sierra Club is fighting to stop new coal plants and clean up and phase out old coal plants. Sierra Club's environmental partners include our 14 Regional Sierra Club groups, lawyers on the Texas contested case hearings the Environmental Integrity Project, running buddies Sierra Student Coalition, Public Citizen, and a cast of dozens of awesome Texas organizations.
Slide show with photos from all rallies coming soon! Stay tuned to Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club on Burnt Orange Report!
Last week, President Obama’s EPA made an announcement that will spring Texas forward to cleaner air!
The announcement came January 7 from the EPA in Washington.
One of the easiest ways to control NOx emissions is to go after the largest ‘single point sources’.
Texas is now at an energy crossroads.
Texans are learning that 
