Power Engineering - Texas hearing panel rules against environmental permitting for TXU lignite plant

24 August 2006 -- Several Texas-based newspapers are reporting this morning that a state hearing panel recommended that the Texas Commission on Environmental Air Quality reject TXU Corp.'s request for an air quality permit for the Oak Grove lignite-fired power plant the company plans to build southeast of Waco. The plant -- one of 11 proposed by TXU to be built near Dallas-Fort Worth -- is the first to reach the administrative hearing level in the state permit process, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

TXU spokeswoman Kimberly Morgan said the company disagrees with the recommendation and will continue to make its case with regulators. "This is just one step in the process and is in no way a final decision," Morgan said.

The case will now be returned to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which will make the final decision. The Commission granted preliminary approval to build the plant after Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order last year mandating that the commission expedite permits for new power plants.

TXU said it plans to carry on with its plans to build the new plant, believing that the Commission will overrule the judges' recommendations and allow it to be built.

The 42-page order, which was released Wednesday, said TXU failed to prove that proposed pollution controls would sufficiently limit emissions or that they could "reasonably be expected to work."

The panel of administrative state law judges also rejected TXU's computer modeling that showed that the power plants would protect public health and the environment, writing that TXU could not show that the computer analysis reflected what would actually be emitted from the plant.

Environmental groups from around the state, as well as many residents living near the proposed Oak Grove Plant location, were elated with the decision.

The Oak Grove plant is part of TXU's recently announced $10 billion plan to build power plants and dramatically increase the state's energy production.

To help offset environmental impacts of its lofty plans, TXU claims it has included the most significant voluntary emissions reduction program of its kind in the United States. While TXU plans to more than double its capacity, it also promises to reduce total key emissions by 20 percent from current levels. According to the company, it will spend $2.5 billion of its $10 billion program on environmental controls that will allow TXU to meet its commitment to lower key emissions below today's levels.

In spite of this commitment, the judges were not convinced. They noted that the Oak Grove plant would burn lignite coal, which produces high levels of ash and that the plant would have been allowed to emit as much as 60 percent more nitrogen oxides than two similar power plants recently permitted near Waco and San Antonio.

The judges concluded that the evidence revealed serious problems with controlling nitrogen oxide emissions from lignite. In addition, mercury content from the lignite was an issue with the judges.

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