Damn You Obama! TX Utility Scraps Coal Plant - Had Pledged Cleanest Ever, But Fought Hg Limits
HOUSTON -- Developers quietly ended their push last week to open a new Texas coal-fired power plant. White Stallion Energy LLC had been planning to build a new power station in Matagorda County, south of Houston along the Gulf of Mexico, that the company promised would be the cleanest and safest coal-burning power plant ever. But the company undermined its message somewhat and angered locals by fighting U.S. EPA limits on mercury emissions.
President Obama's renewed attention on climate change and low natural gas prices persuaded White Stallion to call off the 1,200-megawatt project.
"Pronouncements by the administration -- most recently in the President's State of the Union message -- continue to indicate that additional regulatory barriers to such projects will be erected," Chief Operating Officer Randy Bird said in a statement. "In addition, even though the generation needs for the state of Texas continue to grow, the presently low price of natural gas has made the price of electricity from a new coal fired generator uncompetitive at this time."
White Stallion faced opposition from environmentalists in Austin and from neighbors of the project site who expressed concern about the prospect of mercury contamination. The company insisted its project would have been among the cleanest coal-fired generators in the world. It promised to process emissions during and after combustion, using techniques to scrub nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides, the main causes of acid rain. The company also said it would be using activated carbon to limit mercury emissions and capture fine particulates, or soot.
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http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2013/02/18/2