Environmental Defense Retools Coal Fight, Plans to Oppose Remaining Old-Style Power Plants

(March 30, 2007 - Austin) One month after negotiating the groundbreaking environmental accord with the prospective buyers of Texas energy giant TXU, Environmental Defense reaffirmed its opposition to the remaining old-style coal plants still proposed across Texas.

“The backers of the remaining coal plants should be on notice,” said Environmental Defense regional director Jim Marston. “We designated significant resources to the TXU fight and expected it to last longer than it did. And now we’re prepared to focus our attention on the rest of the gang.”

Highest on Environmental Defense’s priority list are the three proposed plants that would use out-dated technology. The largest is an 800-megawatt unit that NRG plans to build near Jewett, in Limestone County. The other two are slated for Pt. Comfort in Calhoun County and Bremond in the heart of Robertson County.

The group also corrected published misstatements about its position on the three coal plants that TXU will continue to pursue.

“We didn’t negotiate away our position on the Oak Grove or Sandow units that TXU still plans to pursue,” Marston said. “We still think the plant designs are dirtier than they have to be. We had already made a settlement offer in our legal case against the Sandow unit, and simply agreed to keep that legal settlement offer open.”

In addition to the significant impact the proposed coal plants would have on local air quality in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin and Waco, Environmental Defense has opposed the massive coal build out because of the millions of tons of new global warming pollution the plants would produce. Though the TXU agreement may set a positive environmental precedent within the energy industry, the plants still planned represent tens of millions of tons of unnecessary global warming pollution.

“Our work is not done,” Marston said. “At a time when other states are tackling global warming pollution head on, Texas is still poised to allow a massive increase in carbon emissions when there are cheaper, faster and cleaner energy alternatives on the table.”

“To be honest,” Marston continued, “we were hopeful that the other coal companies would learn about TXU and offer to work with us to find a productive alternative to their dirty plants. We remain optimistic, but we have to keep up the fight to protect our health and our planet.”

Environmental Defense, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 500,000 supporters. Since 1967, Environmental Defense has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. The Texas office was established in Austin in 1990.