Published: June 06, 2009 07:18 pm      

Planned power plant for sale

Navarro Generating still seeking state permit to build

Although much of Thursday’s power plant meeting was similar to previous meetings, with the same speakers and many of the same questions, the fact that the unbuilt power plant is for sale was a surprise to many in the audience.

The power plant’s developer, Babcock and Brown, is having a corporate-sized garage sale, and dividing up all its parcels, including Navarro Generating, the smaller of the two proposed power plants for southern Navarro County.

The parent company, headquartered in San Francisco, has gone into receivership and is selling off all its assets, said Chris Shugart, representative for Babcock and Brown.

He couldn’t give a price for the project but he did say it has no value without the state permit.

“It’s an important part of the project,” he said. “Without it, the project has no value, but we can’t put a dollar value on it.”

This isn’t the first time the proposed plant has undergone a shift in ownership. The project was originally begun by Amen Corporation, a small group of investors who brought in Babcock and Brown on what looked like a great deal — a gas-fired power plant in an area perfect for development, with high-voltage electric transmission lines, a natural gas pipeline, and clean water from Richland Chambers Reservoir.

Because Babcock and Brown is dissolving, there’s no question that the company won’t be the future developer of project, he said.

“There will be another owner,” Shugart said.

The purpose of the meeting was actually to discuss the proposed air pollution permit for the plant, a draft of which has already been issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Thursday’s meeting was to receive input on the draft permit. Public comments will still be accepted through June 22.

After the closure of the comment period, the state will take 60 days and respond to the comments in writing, then the project can go to the commissioners, which can take another two months. If the issue is sent to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for a contested hearing, then a judge will set a date to hear about any disputed facts in the permit.

After that, the hearing judge’s conclusions will go to the TCEQ commissioners, who will decide whether to issue a permit or not, Hendrickson said.

“That’s about nine to 12 months away,” he said.

Also an issue of some interest was the June 22 installation of an air monitor at the Corsicana airport to test for existing air pollution.

The state’s policy is to use air monitors near large cities or metropolitan areas, to help detect not only fixed polluters, like power plants, but the emissions from cars and other mobile sources of pollution.

The Navarro County air monitor will detect ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, and particles as small as 2.5 microns in size.

“You’ll be able to log onto the Internet and see in real-time what it’s picking up,” Hendrickson said.

Texas Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, is the new head of one of the state legislature’s environmental oversight committees and he requested an air monitor for the county.

A handful of residents, including Ronnie Willis, a member of the pro-power plant group, Navarro First, thanked Cook directly at Thursday’s meeting.

“He is the one who got this monitor,” Willis said. “I’d like to thank him.”

“I’m tickled that we’re on the road to having an air monitor,” said John Jackson, former district judge.

One persistent question from a number of residents was why the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) won’t delay the air permit until the state has more data from the new monitor.

The state used air modeling to determine that the proposed Navarro Generating plant, and Pin Oak Creek, a larger proposed plant nearby, wouldn’t violate state or federal pollution limits, said Erik Hendrickson, with the TCEQ. Air modeling compiles all the important fixed sources of pollution within 50 kilometers to predict what would happen with a new source in the mix, he said. The model for Navarro Generating included the Big Brown coal-fired power plant in Freestone County, as well as Pin Oak Creek Energy, the second proposed gas plant for Navarro County.

“Air monitors are one tool,” Hendrickson said, listing off modeling and stack testing, too. “All these are tools to determine that standards are met and people will be protected.”

The state has many gas-fired power plants, and that experience has shown what the plants will emit, or not, he said.

Since 1996, Hendrickson said he’s worked on 60 to 100 similar projects with few serious pollution problems.

“The typical problems are reporting requirements, record-keeping, there’s generally not a lot of permit exceedences,” he said. “They’re not big emitters. They don’t have a lot of violations.”

Numerous questions also dealt with the large coal-burning power plant in Freestone, Big Brown. Residents said the county is already polluted because of that plant, and accused the state of not including it in the modeling.

It was included, Hendrickson said.

“I don’t believe you’ll be affected by these new facilities in addition to the existing facilities,” he told residents.

During the formal comments period, opponents of the plant objected to the potential pollution from the plant, and its affects on human health, while supporters touted the economic boost they say the plant would bring to the county.

“We’re in a fall-out zone,” said Carla Steele, who described her daughter’s various health issues, and her fears about what pollution nearby could do to her.

Eddie Pevehouse said the supporters of the plant shouldn’t think about the money aspect, but about the health concerns.

“Putting a price tag on people’s lives is shocking,” she said. “I don’t believe you can put a price on our lives.”

Supporters argued that the plants could breath new life into the county’s economy, with a larger tax base and more jobs.

“We need to get out of the 1950s. We need to get out of the ‘60s. We could at least move into the ‘80s,” said Rick Mangus of Kerens.

Additional comments can be made in writing, and through the TCEQ Web site at www.tceq.state.tx.us for those with Internet access.

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