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Archive for March 8th, 2011

LCRA’s Fayette Power Project is under legal attack by three anti-pollution groups who filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Integrity Project, Environment Texas and Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Claiming LCRA’s Fayette Power Project has violated the federal Clean Air Act thousands of times, the plaintiffs allege LCRA ramped up capacity and increased levels of dangerous particle pollution, which is not always visible to the eye but is linked to asthma and heart and lung disease.

In addition, the groups claim the company under-reported the amount of particulate matter emitted from the plant’s smokestacks, and therefore deprived the State of Texas of more than $500,000 in annual air pollution fees.  Click here to access details of the lawsuit.

In addition to the lawsuit, the Texas Pecan Alliance, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and other community and environmental groups have been calling on Austin City Council to commit to the promises of clean energy in line with the Austin Energy Generation plan and have asked for the closure of this plant.

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Texas Barnett Shale gas drilling rig

Texas Barnett Shale gas drilling rig -Wikipedia

According to hearing examiners for the Texas Railroad Commission, Range Resources was not responsible for contaminating two residential drinking water wells in Parker County.

The Fort Worth company was accused by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December of allowing methane and other substances from its Barnett Shale hydraulic fracking operations into the wells.  But the hearing examiners findings are saying that the more likely sources of the contamination was the much shallower Strawn geological formation, which also contains natural gas deposits.

The full Railroad Commission will act on the hearing examiners’ findings at its March 22 public hearing.  If you would like to watch the hearing click here to access the streaming video live, or watched the archived video a few days later.

Public concern has been high and it is unknown yet, how the citizens of Parker, Hood and surrounding counties are responding to these findings.

To see the hearing examiners’ findings and supporting material, click here.

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Are desperate school boards having to make decisions about the fiscal health of their districts now vs the long-term health of their charges in the future?

Mike Norman, the editorial director of the Star-Telegram/Arlington and Northeast Tarrant County, writes about the precarious lab rat position of citizens in the Barnett Shale.  Click here to read his editorial.

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