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In Texas, planned coal-fire plants stoke environmental battle
By J.D. Riviere
AFP
AUSTIN, Texas
Petroleumworld.com 02 26 06While the rest of the world worries about global warming, in Texas, lawmakers and industrialists say the future is coal, even if that means spewing out more heat-trapping gas each year than Sweden or Portugal.
Already the US leader in carbon emissions, Texas, home state of President George W. Bush, would see its carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions explode if the proposed 16 coal-fired plants are built. Elected leaders say they are needed to fuel the growing state's voracious energy appetite.
But a rising number of environmentalists and other critics say cleaner alternatives are available, and they are turning Texas and its coal-fueled vision into a central front in the war on global warming and toxic air pollution.
"The window for cost-effective action to prevent serious harm from global warming is rapidly closing," said Jim Marston, who heads the Texas branch of the Environmental Defense Fund.
"This is the time for responsible corporate action -- not short-sighted investments in damaging global warming pollution."
Marston and other environmentalist groups scored a major victory this week when a state judge temporarily blocked fast-track approval authority for the first batch of coal-fired plants. But the fight is far from over.
The Lone Star State, which has one of the largest collections of petrochemical facilities in the world, has a long tradition of backing industrial development over environmental concerns.
There's a colloquial expression to describe the odorous fumes emitted from "refinery row" near Houston: "That's the smell of money."
Indeed, it was in Texas that then-governor Bush first discovered "voluntary" reductions for some pollutants, a program he later took to the White House -- much to the chagrin of environmentalists. Now his successor as Texas governor, Rick Perry, a fellow Republican, is pushing the coal plants with fervor.
A single utility company, TXU Corp., is proposing to build 11 of the plants, which would not use CO2-trapping technology. Environmentalists say the company's new facilities alone would emit an estimated 78 million tons of heat-trapping gases annually -- more than 21 states and some major countries, including Sweden,
Denmark and Portugal.
Perry has not budged.
Even after Bush warned of the perils of global warming, now confirmed in a recent, damning United Nations report, Perry remains dismissive of the dangers and wholly unconvinced of the scientific conclusion that human activity contributes to the phenomenon.
He said states like California, where Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has won environmentalists' praise for promoting curbs on CO2 emissions, have put their economic growth in danger with such initiatives.
"I am not going to put the state of Texas in a competitive disadvantage on some science that may or may not be correct," Perry said recently.
Perry has been pilloried by environmentalists for issuing a 2005 executive order putting coal plants on a fast track for state approval, thereby bypassing lengthy hearings and reviews. They have pointed out that Perry has received more than 100,000 dollars in campaign contributions from companies with an interest in the 16 coal plants.
On Tuesday a state judge agreed with environmentalists fighting the executive order and issued an injunction against the expedited approval process. The order calls for new reviews and hearings to begin in the coming months, but Perry could appeal the judge's ruling.
"No one should be surprised that a single liberal Austin judge would rule against Governor Perry and his efforts to increase energy capacity in Texas," said Perry spokesman Robert Black. "We will take a close look at the ruling and make a determination on how we will proceed."
On the local front, environmentalists are also worried about increased mercury emissions -- Texas already has five of the top 10 mercury-belching power plants -- not to mention smog and other pollutants that dirty the air.
"The health of our families, the economic impact on Texas communities, and the climate of the entire planet are at stake," said Marston, the environmentalist leader.
"There is absolutely no justification for this rush to build a bunch of dirty plants that we don't need."
AFP 25 0931 GMT 02 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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