Environmental groups and others who fought the expansion of El Paso Electric’s power plant have reached agreement with the firm, an agreement that will prevent future construction in far southwest Texas.
The agreement will temporarily block new fossil fuel power plant construction while pushing EPE toward a clean energy future stated the Sierra Club in making the announcement.
The Club along with the Chaparral Coalition for Community Health and the Environment and Earthworks fought the company over its plans for construction of the Newman methane gas power plant outside of El Paso. In return for the agreement, the groups withdrew their legal case against EPE.
“The legal deck was stacked against us, fighting a utility like El Paso Electric,” said Dr. Jeanette Lara, a Chaparral resident. “The health and climate concessions we forced from EPE were because we worked hard to organize our community. The struggle is not over until EPE replaces all its fossil fuels with the clean, renewable energy that we deserve and the world desperately needs.”
Under the agreement, El Paso Electric:
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Is prohibited from ever constructing another fossil fuel unit at the Newman power plant site after Newman 6 is built;
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Is prohibited from constructing any new fossil fuel units, anywhere, for the next four years, with limited exceptions;
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Must begin the process of retiring two existing gas units, which were constructed before the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and lack basic emissions controls;
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Must reduce CO2 pollution from Newman 6 by 500,000 tons—the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road, or planting 8 million trees.
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Must reduce ozone-forming NOx pollution from Newman 6 by 50 tons;
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Must dedicate funds to reducing ozone-forming volatile organic compound (VOC) pollution across El Paso County, fully offsetting the emissions from Newman 6;
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Must create a fund to support the impacted communities and mitigate the local effects of pollution generated by Newman; and
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Make environmental reports from Newman Unit 6 publicly available online.
Source: Sierra Club press release
