Friday, March 2, 2007
TXU To Build Coal Plant Near Waco - Money
TXU To Build Coal Plant Near Waco - Money: "FORT WORTH, Texas -- A federal judge has approved a settlement between Alcoa, TXU and the U.S. Department of Justice that would allow TXU to build a new coal-fired power plant in Central Texas."
Monday, February 26, 2007
cbs11tv.com - TXU Directors Approve Sale To Buyout Firms
cbs11tv.com - TXU Directors Approve Sale To Buyout Firms: "Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders and regulators go along."
cbs11tv.com - TXU Directors Approve Sale To Buyout Firms
cbs11tv.com - TXU Directors Approve Sale To Buyout Firms: "Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders and regulators go along."
Sunday, February 25, 2007
cbs11tv.com - TXU May Be Sold In Huge Private-Equity Deal
cbs11tv.com - TXU May Be Sold In Huge Private-Equity Deal: "Private-buyout firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were in advanced talks Friday to buy utility TXU Corp. in one of the largest private-equity deals ever, according to a person close to the situation."
Friday, February 23, 2007
Editorial: Time to slow the coal rush
Editorial: Time to slow the coal rush: "Central Texans have been pleading to go slow on coal. Tuesday a judge agreed.
A lot happened that day in the rapidly escalating statewide controversy over plans to build 18 coal-fired power plant projects in Texas.
Baylor University air scientist Max Shauck told Waco City Council members that proposed coal-fired power plants would push Waco into nonattainment under the Clean Air Act."
A lot happened that day in the rapidly escalating statewide controversy over plans to build 18 coal-fired power plant projects in Texas.
Baylor University air scientist Max Shauck told Waco City Council members that proposed coal-fired power plants would push Waco into nonattainment under the Clean Air Act."
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Judge Blocks Perry's Coal Plant Fast-Track Order
cbs11tv.com - Judge Blocks Perry's Coal Plant Fast-Track Order: "A judge has blocked Gov. Rick Perry's executive order fast-tracking the permitting process for proposed coal-fired power plants and ordered that state hearing administrators reconsider environmentalists' request for a delay."
Legal fight over coal plants set to begin
Legal fight over coal plants set to begin
By SCOTT STREATER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
STAR-TELEGRAM
MAP: PROPOSED PLANTS
TXU's proposal to build 11 coal-fired power plants, which has sparked fierce opposition and drawn national attention, is set to come to a head Wednesday in Austin, where the Dallas energy giant will try to fight off challenges from citizens groups and clean-air advocates who say pollution from the plants will endanger the health of thousands of people across East and Central Texas.
The hearings, before a panel of state administrative law judges, will deal with challenges to permits to build six of the plants. The hearings are expected to last several weeks. And the judges can only issue a recommendation, which the state can ignore.
But a recommendation against TXU would stall the company's ambitious $10 billion plant-building plan and possibly force the company to redesign the plants to make them cleaner, company officials say.
"We strongly believe that we submitted a good application and that the state permitting engineers issued an appropriate draft permit that's protective of the human health and environment," said David Poole, TXU's general counsel. If the judges do not agree, "then we'll go back and get it right, however long that takes."
Opponents, including a coalition of mayors led by Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, argue that TXU needs to go back to the drawing board. They say pollution from the plants will dirty the air in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Waco.
"We think the evidence shows all three cities will be harmed," said Jim Marston, regional director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense, one of the groups challenging the permits.
POWER PLANT HEARINGS
The issue
Several environmental and citizens groups are challenging draft permits that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued to TXU to build these six coal-fired power plants:
Valley Steam, in Savoy, east of Sherman
Lake Creek, in Riesel, east of Waco
Trading House, in Waco
Big Brown 3, in Fairfield, East Texas
Monticello 4, in Mount Pleasant, Northeast Texas
Martin Lake, in Tatum, East Texas
ARGUMENTS FOR THE PLANTS
TXU officials say the issue boils down to one question: Did the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality require the company to use the best pollution-control technology available at the time the permit applications were submitted?
If the answer is yes, then the state must issue the permits and the company must be allowed to build the plants, Poole said.
TXU's attorneys plan to argue that the state permitted a new power plant near San Antonio two years ago that uses pollution controls similar to those proposed for the six new plants, he said.
"It's already been determined that the same pollution controls that we're proposing to install ... have already been determined in a very recent time period to be the Best Available Control Technology," Poole said.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THEM
Opponents say the permit does not require the best pollution controls, noting that each year the plants will emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the chief man-made contributor to global warming.
They also argue the state has not adequately studied the cumulative impacts of the plants' pollution on human health and the environment in cities as far away as Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco and Austin.
The groups commissioned a study by David Allen, an air pollution expert at the University of Texas at Austin, who found that pollution from the plants will make the air worse in Dallas-Fort Worth, and could degrade the air in Waco and Austin enough that both would violate federal ground-level ozone standards.
"Our allegation is that they failed to do the analysis required by state and federal law, which is a cumulative impact analysis of the plants for all areas that are impacted," Marston said. "Clearly, Austin, Waco and Dallas-Fort Worth are in the area of influence."
OKLAHOMA'S CONCERNS
Oklahoma is concerned that winds out of the south and southwest will blow pollution from the coal-fired plants into the state, hurting the air there. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has gotten involved in the contested permit hearing on the side of those fighting the TXU plants.
POSSIBLE DELAY?
A separate lawsuit filed last month against Gov. Rick Perry asks a state district court to delay the hearings. The lawsuit, filed by four citizens groups, alleges that Perry's 2005 executive order fast-tracking the permitting process is illegal because the governor does not have the authority to order judges to speed up the process.
A hearing to consider a temporary injunction of the permit hearings is set for today in state district court in Austin, said Jim Blackburn, one of the citizen group's lead attorneys.
AFTER THE HEARINGS
The administrative law judges will spend weeks reviewing the thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of testimony, and issue a recommendation to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They have until April 23, said Cathleen Parsley, general counsel for the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
The commission's three-person board will then decide whether to accept or reject the judges' recommendation.
The commission's decision can be appealed in state district court.
WANT TO GO?
What: Hearings before a state administrative law panel concerning state permits that would allow TXU to build six coal-fired power plants. Open to the public.
When: 9 a.m. Wednesday
Where: Fourth-floor hearing room, William P. Clements Building, 300 W. 15th St., Austin
SOURCE: State Office of Administrative Hearings
By SCOTT STREATER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
STAR-TELEGRAM
MAP: PROPOSED PLANTS
TXU's proposal to build 11 coal-fired power plants, which has sparked fierce opposition and drawn national attention, is set to come to a head Wednesday in Austin, where the Dallas energy giant will try to fight off challenges from citizens groups and clean-air advocates who say pollution from the plants will endanger the health of thousands of people across East and Central Texas.
The hearings, before a panel of state administrative law judges, will deal with challenges to permits to build six of the plants. The hearings are expected to last several weeks. And the judges can only issue a recommendation, which the state can ignore.
But a recommendation against TXU would stall the company's ambitious $10 billion plant-building plan and possibly force the company to redesign the plants to make them cleaner, company officials say.
"We strongly believe that we submitted a good application and that the state permitting engineers issued an appropriate draft permit that's protective of the human health and environment," said David Poole, TXU's general counsel. If the judges do not agree, "then we'll go back and get it right, however long that takes."
Opponents, including a coalition of mayors led by Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, argue that TXU needs to go back to the drawing board. They say pollution from the plants will dirty the air in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Waco.
"We think the evidence shows all three cities will be harmed," said Jim Marston, regional director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense, one of the groups challenging the permits.
POWER PLANT HEARINGS
The issue
Several environmental and citizens groups are challenging draft permits that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued to TXU to build these six coal-fired power plants:
Valley Steam, in Savoy, east of Sherman
Lake Creek, in Riesel, east of Waco
Trading House, in Waco
Big Brown 3, in Fairfield, East Texas
Monticello 4, in Mount Pleasant, Northeast Texas
Martin Lake, in Tatum, East Texas
ARGUMENTS FOR THE PLANTS
TXU officials say the issue boils down to one question: Did the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality require the company to use the best pollution-control technology available at the time the permit applications were submitted?
If the answer is yes, then the state must issue the permits and the company must be allowed to build the plants, Poole said.
TXU's attorneys plan to argue that the state permitted a new power plant near San Antonio two years ago that uses pollution controls similar to those proposed for the six new plants, he said.
"It's already been determined that the same pollution controls that we're proposing to install ... have already been determined in a very recent time period to be the Best Available Control Technology," Poole said.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THEM
Opponents say the permit does not require the best pollution controls, noting that each year the plants will emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the chief man-made contributor to global warming.
They also argue the state has not adequately studied the cumulative impacts of the plants' pollution on human health and the environment in cities as far away as Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco and Austin.
The groups commissioned a study by David Allen, an air pollution expert at the University of Texas at Austin, who found that pollution from the plants will make the air worse in Dallas-Fort Worth, and could degrade the air in Waco and Austin enough that both would violate federal ground-level ozone standards.
"Our allegation is that they failed to do the analysis required by state and federal law, which is a cumulative impact analysis of the plants for all areas that are impacted," Marston said. "Clearly, Austin, Waco and Dallas-Fort Worth are in the area of influence."
OKLAHOMA'S CONCERNS
Oklahoma is concerned that winds out of the south and southwest will blow pollution from the coal-fired plants into the state, hurting the air there. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has gotten involved in the contested permit hearing on the side of those fighting the TXU plants.
POSSIBLE DELAY?
A separate lawsuit filed last month against Gov. Rick Perry asks a state district court to delay the hearings. The lawsuit, filed by four citizens groups, alleges that Perry's 2005 executive order fast-tracking the permitting process is illegal because the governor does not have the authority to order judges to speed up the process.
A hearing to consider a temporary injunction of the permit hearings is set for today in state district court in Austin, said Jim Blackburn, one of the citizen group's lead attorneys.
AFTER THE HEARINGS
The administrative law judges will spend weeks reviewing the thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of testimony, and issue a recommendation to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They have until April 23, said Cathleen Parsley, general counsel for the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
The commission's three-person board will then decide whether to accept or reject the judges' recommendation.
The commission's decision can be appealed in state district court.
WANT TO GO?
What: Hearings before a state administrative law panel concerning state permits that would allow TXU to build six coal-fired power plants. Open to the public.
When: 9 a.m. Wednesday
Where: Fourth-floor hearing room, William P. Clements Building, 300 W. 15th St., Austin
SOURCE: State Office of Administrative Hearings
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