After winning concessions, environmental opponents drop objections to new Texas coal plant

Environmental Defense and the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition have agreed to drop their opposition to NRG's proposed expansion of a coal-burning power facility in East Texas in exchange for a number of environmental concessions from the New Jersey-based energy company.

ED and TCACC -- a coalition of 37 local governments representing over half the citizens of Texas -- initially announced plans to oppose NRG's permit application for a third coal-fired unit at NRG's Limestone Station near Jewett.

In turn for the groups' promise not to intervene in the licensing process, NRG has agreed to:

* offset or sequester half of the carbon generated by the new unit in a verifiable manner;

* take steps to control mercury and other pollutants;

* support the development of a utility-scale solar project in Texas, or contribute to a trust to fund energy efficiency projects;

* reduce water usage at the new plant through conservation and use of advanced air cooling technology;

* help pay for two carbon sequestration pilot projects that will be managed by ED;

* retrofit or replace a "substantial portion" of its non-road diesel equipment with less polluting alternatives; and

* refrain from building another coal-burning plant in Texas unless it uses either integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) or what's known as "ultra-supercritical coal technology."

"Offsets, such as the projects that NRG has committed to invest in, are a low-cost way to get the large reductions in greenhouse gases that are necessary to prevent catastrophic impacts of global warming, and NRG has established a precedent for other electricity companies to follow," said ED state climate director Jim Marston.

Last year, ED and the Natural Resources Defense Council angered TCACC members when they helped negotiate environmental concessions as part of a buyout deal for Dallas-based TXU. The company agreed to cancel plans for eight of 11 coal-fired power plants across the state -- but among the facilities OK'd in the deal were two units that could emit more mercury that all of the scrapped plants combined.

"Environmental Defense blessed those two stacks when they don't have the authority to do that," Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and former TCACC chair said at the time.

Miller resigned from TCACC earlier this year to work as a public relations consultant for Summit Power Group, which is planning a 600 megawatt IGCC plant in Texas that would sell its carbon dioxide for oil field injection.