Commentary

Stop White Stallion Energy Center and All Coal Powered Plants

White Stallion Energy – Matagorda County’s Trojan Horse

- Cecilia Dykes, Outreach Director

Join the No Coal Coalition  to stop the permitting of the proposed White Stallion Energy Center LLC

Just a few years ago, in 2007, lawsuits were filed against TXU for its proposed construction of 11 coal-fired power plants, which would have emitted 78 million tons of carbon dioxide every year – more than the emissions of 21 states. In the end TXU was bought out and the coal generation units were reduced from 11 to three.

Pollution from coal plants goes beyond carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. Coal plants are also heavy polluters of sulfur dioxide, mercury, arsenic, lead and are the largest industrial sources of ozone precursors.

In Texas today there are 20 counties that do not meet federal ambient air quality standards. These counties are commonly referred to as being in nonattainment. In the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region, which includes 8 counties, all are classified severe for 8-hour ground-level ozone. Breathing air containing ozone can reduce lung function and increase respiratory symptoms, thereby aggravating asthma or other respiratory conditions. Ozone exposure also has been associated with increased susceptibility to respiratory infections, medication use by asthmatics, doctor visits, and emergency department visits and hospital admissions for individuals with respiratory disease. High ozone levels can even harm sensitive vegetation and ecosystems.

Matagorda County, which is southwest of this region, meets the federal standards for ambient air quality. However, this may change as citizens are confronted now with the possibility of a 1320-megawatt pet coal plant coming to their county called White Stallion Energy Center.

The two principals of White Stallion, which is associated with Sky Energy LLC based in Houston, are Randy Bird and Frank Rotondi, formerly with the now defunct Enviropower LLC. Although Bird and Rotondi promise to build the first clean-coal plant in Texas, the truth is both men have been involved in a series of failed projects around the U.S. most notably in Illinois and Kentucky. While in the process of securing permits, and swaying officials and local business owners who provide the cash flow, they have never delivered a single megawatt of power.

Working with a mailbox at a Houston UPS Store as a business address, Bird has been courting Owen Bludau, executive director of the Matagorda County Economic Development Corporation, Judge Nate McDonald, the Chamber of Commerce and other citizens promising economic gains.

In late 2008 Bird invited a group of residents, led by County Judge Nate McDonald, to tour the Spurlock Power Station in Maysville, Kentucky. All were impressed with what they believed to be a clean operation. None seemed aware that on July 2, 2007 the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that East Kentucky Power Cooperative, owner of the Spurlock Power Station, would be required to spend about $650 million in pollution upgrades and pay a $750,000 penalty stemming from a civil suit for violations of the Clean Air Act at three of its plants - including the Spurlock Power Station. The settlement required the utility to install pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) by more than 60,000 tons per year.

With so much at stake, write your letters urging TCEQ to reject the White Stallion Project's air permit. Protect your interests – public health, the environment, and Matagorda's right to protect its agricultural and recreational economies.

For more on how this involves Harris County read Matthew Tresaugue's article:

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUEHOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 18, 2010, 11:12PM

City's smog concerns may choke power plant
Pollution near Matagorda could drift to Houston