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.

Environmental advocacy groups opposed to the new power plant on Calaveras Lake will meet tonight to discuss how to fight the CPS plans.

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.

 

-----

To see more of the San Antonio Express-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mysanantonio.com .

(c) 2004, San Antonio Express-News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.