Las Brisas Strikes Out Yet Again

While we continue to wait and see if the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will grant an air quality permit to the Las Brisas power plant in Corpus Christi, the opposition holds strong.

In a letter to TCEQ dated June 2nd, the state administrative judges who heard the case, Tommy Broyles and Craig Bennett, stated that they “continue to stand by the findings, conclusions and recommendations” contained in their Proposal for Decision. While some issues may remain to be resolved, the argument over whether the proposed Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boilers are subject to a case-by-case maximum achievable control technology (MACT) analysis appears to be a battle EDF has won.  In fact, the valuable evidence presented by EDF was specifically referred to in their letter.

Once again EDF applauds the administrative judges for holding their ground and continues to oppose Las Brisas, as it threatens the health of people in the area and adds enormous quantities of carbon dioxide to the air. Already having several strikes against it, the Las Brisas permit application is clearly flawed and contains obvious deficiencies that violate the Clean Air Act.

As required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), this is a decision that needs to be based upon “findings of fact and conclusions of law, and that such findings of fact must be based only upon evidence in the record or matters officially noticed.” Because of the long list of deficiencies in this application, Las Brisas should be forced to start over and do it right.

Las Brisas-zero and clean air-one.