Waco Mayor May Join Group Opposing 17 New Coal-Fired Plants

[hatrack]

Mayor Virginia DuPuy wants the city of Waco to join a coalition of Texas cities that is trying to put the brakes on coal-fired power plant permits.

The city council on Tuesday will consider spending $10,000 to join the Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition, which is headed by Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and includes cities such as Houston, Fort Worth, Plano and Arlington. DuPuy met with Miller on Tuesday after Miller stopped at the McLennan County Courthouse to ask commissioners to join the coalition.

The coalition is planning to fund a study to gauge the air quality impact of 17 coal-burning power units proposed in Texas, including four units in McLennan County. Commissioners also plan to vote on the agreement Tuesday.

DuPuy said the $10,000 would be well spent if it could provide solid information about how the plants would affect Waco’s air quality. “One of (Miller’s) comments was that if we could build all the plants and have no negative impact on our communities, we should do that,” DuPuy said. “That’s the kind of attitude we need going into this.” DuPuy said the study should be more comprehensive than a recent state-commissioned study by Environ that was based on only four days in 1999 and 2002.

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