In the wake of U.S. EPA's rejection of a Texas program that permits the state's largest air pollution sources, environmental groups have challenged a coal-fired power plant that Gov. Rick Perry (R) had hailed as a symbol of the value of the state's "flexible" permitting program.
When federal regulators rejected the Texas permitting program on June 30, it raised the pitch of an already unusually noisy fight between state and federal regulators. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) sued EPA last month over the agency's rejection of one air permitting program, and with the publication of the agency's final decision (pdf) on the "flexible" permitting program in today's Federal Register, the door is open for another legal challenge from the Lone Star State.
Environmentalists are trying to drive home their point, as well. Three advocacy groups -- the Environmental Integrity Project, the Texas Campaign for the Environment, and Environment Texas -- warned one of Texas' largest power plants today that they intend to file suit over about 10,000 alleged violations of federal air regulations.
The notice (pdf) was sent to the Lower Colorado River Authority, a publicly owned utility that runs the 1,641-megawatt Fayette Power Project near La Grange, Texas.
"In Texas, air pollution permits are flexible alright -- flexible enough to allow coal-fired power plants like the Fayette plant to avoid tougher federal emission limits, violate the weaker substitute standards offered by the Texas regulators, and short-change Texas taxpayers by failing to pay fees that are supposed to be used to improve air quality," said Ilan Levin, a senior attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, in a statement today.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/15/15greenwire-enviro-groups-to-sue-coal-plant-touted-by-texas-8391.htmlEnvironmental groups say they will sue LCRA over Fayette power plantIn an early sign of how federal disapproval of a state air pollution program will filter down to Central Texas, three environmental groups said Thursday that they would sue the Lower Colorado River Authority over its operations of a coal-fired power plant near La Grange.
The environmental groups say the Fayette Power Project failed to upgrade its pollution controls as it ramped up its capacity, dodging federal regulations.
The nonprofit river authority, which owns the plant jointly with the City of Austin and supplies wholesale power to cities and electric cooperatives, said the groups' claims are based on faulty methodology and faulty conclusions.
The environmental groups were emboldened to threaten suit by the decision at the end of June to disapprove the state's flexible permitting program, which sets overall emission caps for facilities, rather than particular limits on emissions from a single boiler. Fayette operates under such a permit, and federal regulators have said the program is too lax.
"Having very clear standards now gives us the foundation and support to move forward with this case," said Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas. The plant is "one of the biggest polluters in Central Texas, and many of our members are in Central Texas, so it's a natural target."
Environment Texas joined the Environmental Integrity Project and the Texas Campaign for the Environment in filing the notice to sue.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/environmental-groups-say-they-will-sue-lcra-over-805610.html I hope they sue the pants off those polluters. I'm sick to death of watching our air quality in Central Texas go down year after year.
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