About a week ago yesterday, I ran into a City Council member leaving the grocery store.
Me: "Mr. --, please don't let them build that coal-burning pet. coke plant here without gasification - please. My kid has asthma. It will create over 70% more pollution than all the refineries we have now create put together. She needs cleaner air and to be able to breathe. Please."
Him: "Um, do you know how we could stop it? I just don't see how we could stop it - I mean, other than annexing the land."
Me: "Well, you could not give them the industrial tax district. Or you could annex the land."
Him: "Okay - that may be something. Mostly I just don't see that we have the authority to stop it."
(His wife pulls up in a big truck, smiles at me in a tight and fierce way, as if reminding me that she will have her hands in my mouth soon at the dentist's office. He starts to move toward the truck.)
Me: "There's the industrial tax district. And the water!"
Him: "Well, yeah. I guess if we didn't give them the water..." (and he's gone.)
I wish I had thought quickly enough to also suggest passing emissions caps for businesses operating in the city. Or a ban on any new coal-burning plants that don't use gasification - there are, of course, any number of things that they can do.
2 comments:
Urgh...frustrating...good luck. Don't suppose there's any chance the State Air agency won't give them the permits? It seems like a no brainer if you're already out of attainment. (As an "insider" of course I know Environmental Protection is just code for Business as Usual).
We are not out of attainment yet (because it's really windy here) but we will be if this is built without gasification. The TCEQ isn't who we want to bank on, no.
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