Today, passing on consent, Austin City Council directed Austin Energy to immediately begin negotiations with the Lower Colorado River Authority for better operational control of Austin’s share of the coal-fired Fayette Power Project, the fifth largest emitter of climate-disrupting carbon dioxide pollution in the entire state of Texas.
Under the resolution sponsored by Mayor Pro-Tem Sheryl Cole, and co-sponsored by Council members Chris Riley and Bill Spelman, Austin Energy will report back to Council both at upcoming Austin Energy Committee meetings, as well as to the new City Council in January. In addition, the resolution calls on the Austin City Manager to report back to City Council by December 1, 2014, on a pathway for defeasance of bonds tied to Fayette Power Project debt that could help accelerate the ramp down schedule of the plant. Austin Energy has repeatedly told Council that one of the reasons it must continue to operate the units with LCRA is to pay off debt tied to bonds it issued to install pollution control equipment.
Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter and a member of the Austin Energy Generation Planning Task Force, released the following statement in response:
“The Sierra Club is pleased that the City Council is taking action today to gain better operational control over Austin’s share of the dirty Fayette coal power plant. For some 35 years, Austin Energy has been co-firing units 1 and 2 of the Fayette Power Project jointly with LCRA and serving Austin Energy customers, but coal power is yesterday’s technology and we need to phase out our use of coal in a responsible way to reduce smog-forming pollution, reduce costs, and conserve our precious water resources from the Colorado River.
We need a better agreement that lets Austin decide when to run the coal plant, when to ramp it down, when to mothball it, and eventually when to retire our use of coal permanently. This resolution represents a prudent and pragmatic next step in the process toward a cleaner, more affordable energy future for Austin.”