Protest and praise heard for coal plant

12/17/2004

Jerry Needham
San Antonio Express-News

Dozens of people stepped up late Thursday to alternately praise and blast plans for City Public Service's proposed new coal-burning plant at Calaveras Lake.

They were among about 200 people who came to the East Central High School cafeteria for a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality meeting on a draft air permit for the 750-megawatt plant.

CPS officials say the plant — which would be the city-owned utility's fourth at Calaveras and would provide enough power to supply about 470,000 homes — is needed by 2009.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson sent a statement saying CPS wouldn't need the power if it would follow its own consultant's study and promote more energy efficiency and conservation.

Said Marty Wender, former president of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce: "Great communities invest in themselves. If you want to kill San Antonio, cut our power off."

Representatives of several environmental groups were critical of the air pollutants the plant would put out. They said the roughly $1 billion needed to build the plant could be better spent on cleaner sources of power such as wind and solar production and for energy-efficiency programs.

"This city has a lot of room to make gains on energy efficiency," said Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition. "There's no need to build this plant. It compromises the health of the community."

Chris Hill, a consultant to Smart Growth San Antonio, said CPS is resorting to an old technology, pulverized coal, without properly analyzing the cost benefits of other alternatives, including cleaner-burning gasified coal technology.

Hill said the newer coal technology would use less water and reduce overall air emissions, including carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that's likely to be regulated in the near future.

Speaking in favor of the plant were representatives of the San Antonio Manufacturers Association and the electrical workers union.

CPS officials say the new plant won't pose a threat to the environment or to the health of area residents.

"This plant will be the best environmentally controlled coal unit in the United States," said Joe Fulton, CPS' director of research and environmental management.

The utility has committed to $330 million in pollution-control measures at existing plants over the next nine years that, even with the new plant, will bring overall emissions more than 60 percent below the utility's historic levels, Fulton said.

The commission's executive director has determined that the air emissions from the proposed plant won't violate any state or federal regulations and has made a preliminary decision to issue the permit.

But several requests for a contested case hearing have been received, and the three-member commission will decide later whether to send the issue before a hearing examiner.

jneedham@express-news.news.net

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