Phase-out of Luminant’s massive Big Brown coal plant starts today, signaling cleaner air for communities in Texas

DALLAS, Tex. - Luminant Energy phased out operations at its Big Brown coal plant in Freestone County today, ceasing electricity production at the nation’s largest source of sulfur dioxide in 2016 and one of the nation’s largest sources of mercury. Communities in North Texas, affected for decades by dirty air, have held Luminant accountable for its coal pollution through community organizing and legal challenges.

Luminant announced in late 2017 that it would phase out its Big Brown coal plant along with its Sandow and Monticello power plants. Operations already ceased at the Sandow and Monticello coal plants in January of this year. In 2016, these three Luminant coal plants together emitted a total of 166 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, 24 million pounds of nitrogen oxide and 21 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution. That same year, organizers in Dallas secured clean air resolutions from the Dallas City Council and Dallas County Commissioners.

“Any parent with an asthmatic child from Dallas to Denton knows that smog and our dangerous air quality has been a problem for decades,” said Misti O’Quinn, Organizer with the Sierra Club in Dallas. “Despite the phase-out of these three Luminant coal plants this past month, Texas still has more dirty coal plants producing more pollution than in any other state. Our work will continue until all Texans in every corner of the state enjoy clean and safe air quality.”

Aging coal plants are increasingly obsolete and uneconomic, both across the nation and locally in Texas.  Despite President Trump promising the resurgence of coal, since he was elected coal plants have been retiring at the rate of one every 19 days across the United States. And in Texas, wind energy reached a crucial milestone at the end of 2017 when it surpassed coal to become the second-largest electricity source in Texas. This progress will continue as cities like Austin and San Antonio are drafting climate action plans and expanding community solar programs to increase access to low-cost clean energy.

Despite clean energy’s rapid growth in Texas and the profound change in how Texas is powered, companies like Luminant, Dynegy, and NRG and communities like San Antonio and Austin are still collectively burning more coal in Texas than in any other state in the country. With the retirement of Big Brown, the biggest air quality threats to Dallas and across East Texas are Luminant’s Martin Lake coal plant and NRG’s Limestone coal plant. Coal plants and other pollution sources throughout the state have made many of Texas’ major metropolitan areas - including Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio - rank among the most-polluted communities in the nation, according to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report,

“Luminant’s phase out of some of its dirtiest coal plants has been a long time coming, and it wouldn’t have been possible without local leadership, legal battles, and community organizing. said Cherelle Blazer, a long time organizer with the Sierra Club in Dallas. While Texas’ older coal plants may be out of sight to many North Texans, pollution knows no city limits or county lines. Each day, people pay the price for pollution from big coal. If Federal leaders won’t take action to protect our health, local leadership will have to make clean air and clean energy accessible for all.”

The phase-out of Luminant’s Big Brown coal plant will save an estimated 163 lives every year, prevent nearly 6,000 asthma attacks, prevent tens of thousands of lost work and school days, and save $1.6 billion in in annual public health costs, according to analysis conducted with EPA-approved air modeling