FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2012
Contact:
Jenna Garland, Sierra Club, (404) 607-1262 x222, (404) 281-6398
Erin Fonken, Environmental Integrity Project, (512) 637-9474
Las Brisas Power Plant
Cannot Move Forward
Judge Finds Flaws in
Air Permit, Deals Major Blow to Already Speculative Plant
Austin, TX – On May 14, Texas District
Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky issued a letter announcing his intended ruling in
a lawsuit seeking to reverse an air pollution permit authorizing the proposed
1,320 megawatt Las Brisas Energy Center. The air permit would allow massive new
emissions of toxic pollutants into the air in Corpus Christi, Texas, near schools
and residential neighborhoods. Sierra
Club, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the local Clean Economy Coalition, and
a coalition of Texas cities joined forces in 2009 to challenge the plant’s air pollution
permit, successfully arguing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
(TCEQ) cut corners and failed to meet several federal Clean Air Act
requirements.
Environmental Integrity Project
attorney Erin Fonken, representing the Sierra Club in the lawsuit, said, “The
court has announced that it intends to rule against the TCEQ because, in
issuing the permit, TCEQ committed a number of critical legal errors. Among the
legal errors are TCEQ’s failure to require the new power plant to comply with
the Clean Air Act’s protective air toxics standards and the failure to
adequately account for the millions of tons to petroleum coke that will be
dumped and piled on site before it is burned in the power plant’s main boilers.”
The Court’s announcement is the latest in a
string of legal setbacks for the proposed power plant, which, if built, would
emit approximately 12 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, as well as
thousands of tons per year of dangerous pollutants that contribute to smog pollution
and health impacts such as asthma attacks and heart disease. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is currently considering a separate permit application for
the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions, and that permit will also need to be
issued, before the plant may start construction. The future of the proposed Las Brisas power
plant remains unclear. Originally proposed in 2008, the plant currently lacks
the required approvals under the federal Clean Air Act to begin construction. The plant faces strong local opposition from city
officials, local business leaders, and residents of Corpus Christi’s fence-line
communities who live adjacent to industrial facilities that have a legacy of
pollution.
“The Las Brisas proposal is still
the wrong answer for Corpus Christi,” said Flavia de la Fuente, with Sierra
Club. “The city is taking such strong steps toward being a more livable, sustainable
place. Proposals to further tie Corpus Christi to dirty coal and petroleum coke
industries, like Las Brisas and potential coal export projects, are a step in
the wrong direction. This court decision
is great news for the leaders and residents who are working so hard to build a
brighter future for Corpus Christi.”
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