Fort Worth Texas Group Fights Coal Power Plants
“On Earth Day Wells Fargos all over America will be reminded that they are pulling us all down s – -s creek with a poo-poo paddle thanks to their loans to various oil & gas, coal, and mountain top removal companies,” said a 1919 club member who wished to remain anonymous. “I would like to publicly poke fun at Wells Fargo by doing a little demo in Fort Worth. This will include music, improve comedy, and signs.”
The member said the goal is to inform the customers of the ‘stinkiness’ of their bank and hopefully persuade them to do business elsewhere. He said it will be a nice opportunity to research, create, and humiliate a “stinky old bank.”
If you want to be involved contact cri@riseup.net.
An April 12th hearing was held in Fort Worth to stop coal plants and prevent new ones.
“Coal is the wrong direction for energy security on so many levels it’s ridiculous,” said Ramsey Sprague, also a 1919 member. “These plants are about the distance from us that Waco is but they will have a tremendous impact on Dallas/Fort Worth air quality which is already among the worst in the nation.”
According to Sprague, seven proposed or permitted coal-burning power plants would add 14,000 tons per year to the air pollution in Texas. Nitrogen oxide, sulfur, and mercury all need to be reduced at existing and proposed coal-burning power plants, he said.
“The DFW area would especially be affected by air pollution from these plants due to prevailing winds,” said Sprague. “Background ozone pollution blows into Dallas from the south and east.”
“TXU’s (Electric Company) coal plan is breathtakingly risky,” said writer Tom Smith. “The first rule of holes is to quit digging.”
The legislature gave the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) the authority to order additional emission reductions from power plants if needed to meet air quality requirements, according to Sprague.
“We would get significant reductions in smog-forming Nitrogen oxides from the Clean Air Initiative Rules if the TCEQ decided to be more protective of our health,” he said.
Smith said that the TCEQ says that a 70 percent cut in pollution from existing power plants is needed to make air safe to breathe but their “weak” proposed rules would cut power plant smog pollution by only nine percent by 2010.
“Poor air quality costs us,” he said. “Power plant mercury pollution puts our babies at risk for permanent brain damage.”
TXU’s proposed Oak Grove coal plants would become the new worst mercury emitting power plant in the nation overtaking the infamous record now held by their Monticello plants, said Smith.
This winter was one of the warmest on record in the Dallas/Fort Worth area according to stats. Global warming emissions from power plants will likely be regulated soon, according to a recent article.
“Saving energy is cheaper than building polluting new power plants,” said Karen Hadden, executive director of Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition. “Using gasification could cost up to ten percent more initially but if carbon is regulated could end up being not only cleaner but cheaper than pulverized coal.”
