Environment Texas Hails Announcement of Closure of One of Nation’s Dirtiest Power Plants

AUSTIN – Environment Texas hailed today’s announcement by electric generator Luminant that the company will idle two units at its polluting Monticello power plant and shutter three lignite mining operations. The announcement took place amidst a particularly bad smog day plaguing most of the state.

According to the Environment Texas report Dirty Energy’s Assault on Our Health: Ozone Pollution, released earlier this year, Luminant’s Monticello coal-fired power plant released 11,938 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in 2009, making it the 35th worst plant for NOx production among US plants. Nitrogen oxides chemically react with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight to form ozone pollution, commonly referred to as smog. According to the TCEQ, smog levels in Austin, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Tyler-Longview regions make the air unhealthy for sensitive populations to breathe today.

The Environment Texas analysis Dirty Energy’s Assault on our Health: Mercury, also released this year, found the Monticello plant emitted 1,828 pounds of mercury in 2009, ranking it fifth in the nation. Mercury from power plants fall into our waterways from rain, where it builds up in fish then the animals—and people—that consume the fish.  Even very small amounts of mercury can have significant impacts, as studies suggest that a gram-sized drop of mercury can contaminate an entire 20 acre lake. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that one in six women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her bloodstream to put her unborn child at risk for the health effects of mercury pollution, including learning disabilities, developmental disorders, and lower IQs, should she become pregnant. This means that more than 689,000 of the 4.1 million babies born every year could be exposed to dangerous levels of mercury pollution. Fish and animals that consume fish suffer from reproductive failure and mortality as a result of mercury pollution. More U.S. waters are closed to fishing because of mercury contamination than because of any other toxic contamination problem. In Texas, 361,433 acres of lakes and the entire Texas Gulf Coast are under fish consumption advisories.

Statement by Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger

“Taking a breath should not leave Texas children gasping for air. Monticello is one of the dirtiest power plants in the nation, clogging our skies with lung-damaging smog and polluting our waterways with brain-altering mercury. Closing this big polluter is long overdue and is a victory for clean air and clean water.”