Second Lawsuit Challenges TXU’s New Coal Plants

Two advocacy groups have filed a federal lawsuit against TXU claiming that the permit applications for the company’s proposed Oak Grove plant in Robertson County violates the federal Clean Air Act.

Plaintiffs CleanCOALition and Robertson County: Our Land Our Lives allege that the Clean Air Act required studies of pollution impacts and cleaner technology that the permit does not contain.
The Oak Grove plant would include two of the 11 new coal plants proposed by TXU.

Dallas oilman Albert Huddleston, founder of CleanCOALition, had this to say about the ligitation:

“There’s a clear principle behind this lawsuit,” Mr. Huddleston said. “New, more effective technologies exist, and they are required to be used under the Clean Air Act. We can and should do better than we are doing today.”

Of course, TXU is crying foul and claiming the lawsuits are an attempt to bypass Texas’ permitting process.
More from the DMN:

The suit contends that the Clean Air Act prohibits the state from issuing a permit for the Oak Grove plant without studies of cleaner coal-burning methods, cumulative impacts of the Texas coal boom, mercury emissions and other environmental concerns.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued draft permits for the Oak Grove plant.

In August, however, two state hearing officers recommended that the agency’s three-member commission deny the permits based on concerns over proposed emissions controls.

The agency’s executive director has recommended that the commissioners approve the permit. The commissioners have not acted on the issue.

Permit applications for other proposed coal plants are pending or are set for state hearings.

The federal suit is the second court challenge to new coal-burning plants in Texas. The national group Environmental Defense is suing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over its permit rules in Travis County district court.

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