TCEQ Letter

The following letter was sent by Waco Friends of Peace/Climate to the Chief Clerk of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality:
 

Office of the Chief Clerk

TCEQ

12100 Park 35 Circle

Building F

Austin, TX 78753

March 10, 2016

Dear Chief Clerk,

   As citizens of the Waco area we would like to request a hearing to oppose the natural gas plants at Tradinghouse Lake, near Waco, which have permits pending now: 110357, PSDTX1452, and GHGPSDTX132.

    We live near the proposed site at Tradinghouse Lake and our opposition to this facility is the following:

   1)Ozone precursor emissions from the plant would affect the air quality of Waco and surrounding communities. Higher ozone levels may cause liver dysfunction, inflammation, susceptibility to infections, cardiac effects,respiratory symptoms, asthma attacks, school absence in children, increased hospital admissions, and even death.

   2)The Clean Power Plan will be applied to the State of Texas, requiring limits to greenhouse gas emissions.  Therefore, the construction of this plant would impact the State’s ability to satisfy the requirements of this law.

   3)Although natural gas plants may have lower CO2 emissions than coal fired plants, overall emissions must be considered.  Much of the natural gas utilized in the plant would be derived from a fracking facility.  Studies have found that for fracked gas to have lower emissions than coal when used in a power plant, the methane leaked must be only 1-3% of total gas produced.  Unfortunately, studies have found that the leakage rate averages about 10%.  Therefore, natural gas plants often result in a higher level of total greenhouse gas emissions than coal fired plants and are not a suitable “bridge fuel.”

    4)Therefore, it is not prudent at this time to build a natural gas facility.  The State of Texas should focus on clean renewable energy production instead.  The State has tremendous potential to expand its solar and wind industries.  We believe that these should be built rather than a natural gas facility at this time.

    We request a hearing so that the relevant environmental impacts of the proposed natural gas plant be fully evaluated.   Thank you for your attention to this issue.

                                                                     Sincerely,

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________

Email to anorthc@aol.com to be placed on the Friends of Peace email list.