Stop The Coal Plant

Clean-Air Rules Protecting Parks Set to Be Eased

May 16, 2008
The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan. Read more...

Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars

Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars Narrated by Robert Redford and produced by The Redford Center at the Sundance Preserve and Alpheus Media, FIGHTING GOLIATH: TEXAS COAL WARS follows the story of Texans fighting a high-stakes battle for clean air. The film introduces the unlikely partners-mayors, ranchers, CEOs, community groups, legislators, lawyers, and citizens-that have come together to oppose the construction of 19 conventional coal-fired power plants that were slated to be built in Eastern and Central Texas and that were being fast-tracked by the Governor.

 

Voluntary Emission Reductions Don't Work

The Dirty Secret of Texas Industries
For several decades, industrial companies in Texas have downplayed the issue of "grandfathered" plants, industrial sources of air emissions that predate or were under construction when the state's first major clean air law was enacted in 1971. These plants are not required to meet the permitting, air pollution controls, and other environmental protections imposed by that law. .... The failure of Texas industries to do this after almost three decades makes it likely that state officials will have to force the issue.

Read more of the executive summary "GRANDFATHERED AIR POLLUTION: The Dirty Secret of Texas Industries" A Report by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Galveston-Houston Association of Smog Prevention, April 1998. Read more...

Unplug the Deal to Buy Dirty Coal Power:

Brazos Electric Coop to buy 40% of the power from Sandy Creek coal plant
Coop members urged to attend membership meeting and demand that management "cancel the coal contract"

Dirtiest U.S. Power Plants Linked to Global Warming

Coal Plants Currently Proposed in Texas

The Issue

Seven more dirty coal-burning power plants are being rushed through the permitting process in Texas. Our health, our economy and our air quality are at risk.

  • Pollution from coal plants shortens the lives of 1,160 Texans each year. It also causes 196,149 lost work days, 1,105 hospitalizations and 33,987 asthma attacks every year.
  • Each year, 144 lung cancer deaths and 1,791 heart attacks in Texas are attributable to power plant pollution.
  • A UT Health Science Center San Antonio study found that autism increases by 17% for every 1,000 pounds of mercury that is emitted locally in Texas.

Click Here to Let Your Voice Be Heard
Doctor Bass Rancher

"Increased levels of mercury in our waters - primarily from coal fired power plants - have forced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to warn pregnant women and any woman who might want to become pregnant to avoid or limit fish consumption. This year alone, an estimated 630,000 children will be born to women with unsafe blood levels of mercury, as determined by the EPA. This in utero exposure can contribute to severe mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and seizures."

-Dr. Kimberly Carter, Obstetrician/Gynecologist, Austin, TX

"Mercury gets into our waterways and into our fish and the contamination has made fish unsafe to eat in 12 water bodies in Texas. We should protect the health of the citizens of Texas, especially our children, by reducing pollution and preventing additional mercury emissions."

— Ed Parten, President of Texas Black Bass Unlimited, Houston, TX

"Jo and I have been farming and ranching on this land for 45 years. Several of the proposed coal plants would be very close to us. The pollution from existing coal burning power plants already puts our health at risk. We're both cancer survivors and both suffer from asthma. More coal plants will only make it worse. The pollution is not good for our crops, cattle or wildlife either. The Texas Farm Bureau policy is that no new coal plant permits be issued unless they meet the lowest achievable emission rate (LAER) standard. Coal plants should be no more polluting than new natural gas fired plants with the newest technology and they're right. We're opposed to the proposed coal plants, and urge others to join in to protect our land and our lives."

— Robert and Jo Cervenka, Ranchers, Reisel, TX