Claims by a trio of environmental groups that LCRA's operation of the Fayette Power Project violates the Clean Air Act are based on faulty methodology and flawed conclusions, LCRA's general manager said Thursday.
"We have taken numerous, dramatic steps to reduce emissions from the plant and our efforts have been praised by officials with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and environmental and community leaders," said Tom Mason, general manager. "We have been held up as a positive example of how to responsibly run a coal plant.
"Air quality is a personal issue to us," Mason said. "Many of us have dedicated our careers to work at an organization that values environmental stewardship. Our employees live near the plant and raise their families there. When focused on clean air instead of inexact assumptions, reasonable people will see that LCRA has a very good story to tell."
The Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington-based environmental group, first told LCRA of its allegations in April.
On Wednesday, an EIP attorney sent LCRA a Notice of Intent to sue. The notice, a precursor to a federal lawsuit, claims LCRA violated the Clean Air Act more than 10,000 times. EIP is being joined by two other groups, the Texas Campaign for the Environment and Environment Texas.
The Fayette Power Project is located on a 10-square-mile site seven miles east of La Grange. It includes three units capable of generating up to 1,641 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Austin Energy owns 50 percent of units 1 and 2.
FPP operates under a permit issued by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the predecessor of the TCEQ. When that permit was issued in 2002, it was hailed by federal and state regulators and environmental groups as an innovative means of reducing emissions. As part of the permitting process, LCRA and the City of Austin agreed to add equipment called scrubbers to the plant to further reduce emissions. The $435 million additions should be operational in December. They are projected to remove about 95 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions and about 20 to 25 percent of mercury emissions from FPP units 1 and 2. Under the permit, FPP also has completed improvements to reduce plantwide nitrogen oxide emissions by 65 to 70 percent.
The permit for FPP, which is called a flexible permit, incorporates a plantwide applicability limit. The permit establishes emission caps that will decline over its 10-year life.
In 2002, when the FPP permit was announced, Gregg Cooke, then-regional administrator of the EPA, lauded the efforts of the plant's co-owners (LCRA and the City of Austin), saying that "by enhancing air quality more quickly than current plans require, this plan will mean improved health for the people of Central Texas."
Representatives from the Environmental Defense Fund, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club added their praise for the plant.
Gov. Rick Perry said in 2002 that the "announcement demonstrates that with innovative technology, we can balance the economic needs of our growing population with the need all Texans have for cleaner air."
Last year, the TCEQ recognized FPP as a statewide environmental leader and accepted it into its Clean Texas program. FPP is the only coal-powered plant in Texas to be recognized at the gold level, the second highest offered.
About LCRA
LCRA is a nonprofit conservation and reclamation district that provides energy, water and community services to Texans. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1934, LCRA has no taxing authority and operates solely on utility revenues and service fees. LCRA supplies electricity to more than 1.1 million Texans through more than 40 wholesale customers. LCRA also provides many other services to the region. These services include managing floods, protecting the quality of the lower Colorado River and its tributaries, providing parks and recreational facilities, offering economic development assistance, operating water and wastewater, and providing soil, energy and water conservation programs.
