In 2008, Chase Power Development LLC, a Houston-based energy company, made plans to build a coal-fired power plant in the coastal Texas city of Corpus Christi. The Las Brisas Energy Center would be a 1,320-megawatt power plant producing electricity for 650,000 homes, one of 17 coal-fired power plants proposed for construction in the state. Then-Governor Rick Perry supported the plans for a statewide coal buildout, ordering state regulators to fast-track the permit approval process required to get them up and running. But Chase Power had a problem.
Residents of Corpus Christi were already inundated with smog and noxious gases from refineries and ship traffic and, despite the city council’s support of the project, many residents weren’t keen on more air pollution. With the help of medical and environmental groups, they urged the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to reject the proposal. In 2009, due to public outcry, TCEQ forwarded the case to an independent court for consideration and a judge recommended that the permit be rejected. TCEQ approved the Las Brisas permit anyway, but the project fizzled when a district judge found that the proposed plant failed to meet requirements of the federal Clean Air Act.
In the aftermath, Chase Power complained about the “regulatory obstacles” that scuttled its Las Brisas project, but those so-called obstacles represent the few tools residents have to combat a massive industrial development in their community. Over the past five years, those tools have become less useful as companies and industry-friendly legislators work to erode their power.
