Battle over proposed San Antonio-area coal plant heats up
San Antonio Express-News --Nov. 9
Nov. 9--The battle over City Public Service's proposed coal plant appears to be heating up.
The meeting comes as the state prepares to issue the facility a draft permit
in the next few weeks, and hold public meetings on the plan next month.
"Among the issues will be the additional mercury pollution and the
global warming emissions that the plant would produce," said Karen Hadden,
executive director of the Austin-based SEED Coalition.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at 1443 S. St. Mary's St. It comes on the
heels of a report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund that named Texas tops in the
nation for mercury emissions from power plants.
Mercury is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses. Texas
plants emitted 9,815 pounds in 2002 -- almost 2,500 pounds more than
second-place Ohio.
Five of the country's top 10 power plants for mercury emissions are in Texas.
San Antonio's three-plant generating complex on Calaveras Lake ranked 30th with
636 pounds of mercury in 2002.
Despite that backdrop, CPS officials insist that a fourth plant on Calaveras
Lake will not pose a threat to the environment or area residents.
Even with the new plant, a $316 million pollution program will reduce the
complex's overall emissions, including mercury, over the next decade, said Joe
Fulton, the company's director of research and environmental management.
Fulton also said the project will make the plants the cleanest in the
country.
Fulton's latest estimate is that the new plant, which is schedule to be open
in 2009, will produce about 140 pounds of mercury a year. Hadden said she
doesn't understand how the company can add that much mercury and claim a net
reduction.
"I have a lot of questions about what control specifically they will
use," she said. "It warrants careful attention."
The proposed 750-megawatt plant would provide enough power for about 470,000
homes. Fulton said it is needed for the 250,000 people expected to move into the
area over the next decade and to help draw commercial and manufacturing
companies to San Antonio. He also said the coal plant is needed to balance San
Antonio's reliance on increasingly expensive natural gas plants.
Fulton also dismissed the utility's roll in exposing local residents to
mercury. He pointed to mercury testing of fish from Calaveras Lake that showed
levels well below those deemed safe by state and federal environmental
regulators. The $35,000 testing program, contracted by CPS, was conducted in
2002 and 2003.
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