Oak Grove Plant
{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} Luminant (formerly TXU) proposed a 1720 MW supercritical, lignite-coal-burning plant (technically, two plants) in Franklin, TX.[1][2] Engineering and construction have been contracted to Fluor. In Feb. 2007, two private equity firms bought out TXU and promised to drop eight of eleven proposed coal plants in Texas;[3] the Oak Grove plant is one of three coal plants still being pursued by the company.
In Aug. 2006, state administrative judges recommended denial of Oak Grove's permit based on doubts about the adequacy of pollution controls,[4] but the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (whose three-member decision-making body was appointed solely by Gov. Perry, a long-time TXU campaign-cash beneficiary) approved the plants on June 13, 2007.[5] Fluor was awarded notice to proceed with construction on June 21.[6]
On July 21, 2008, the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the District Court's decision denying CleanCOALition and Robertson County: Our Lands, Our Lives' air permit challenge. The environmental groups argued that the permit violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) because it failed to adequately include a Best Available Control Technology (BACT) analysis. The final air permit for the plant is now being appealed.[7]
As of October 2009, Oak Grove unit 1 was scheduled for completion by the end of the year, and unit 2 was expected to be complete in mid-2010.[8]
Contents
Project Details
Sponsor: Luminant (formerly TXU)
Location: Franklin, TX
Capacity: 1720 MW
Type: Supercritical
Projected in service: 2009/10
Status: Construction
Financing
Citizen Groups
- Stop the Coal Plant
- Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden, karen [at] seedcoalition.org
- Texas Sierra Club, Neil Carman, neil_carman [at] greenbuilder.com
- Texas Public Citizen, jcarraway [at] citizen.org
Resources
References
- ↑ Emissions from Recently Permitted and Proposed Coal Burning Power Plants, Stop the Coal Plant website, August 7, 2007.
- ↑ Proposed Coal Plant Finds Favor, Criticism, Bryan-College Station Eagle, December 26, 2005.
- ↑ A Buyout Deal That Has Many Shades of Green, New York Times, February 26, 2007.
- ↑ TXU's Oak Grove Plant Hits Stump in Permitting Process, Waco Tribune-Herald, August 24, 2006.
- ↑ Power Plant Pollution Battle Still On, Austin Chronicle, June 15, 2007.
- ↑ Fluor Awarded Full Notice to Proceed for TXU's Oak Grove Project, Fluor Corporation press release, June 21, 2007.
- ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2008. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
- ↑ "Coal plant construction continues in earnest at some sites," SNL Interactive, October 5, 2009. (Subscription required.)
Related SourceWatch Articles
External links
- "Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants ", National Energy Technology Lab, May 2007, page 20. (PDF)
- "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2008. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
- Luminant website
