Last night, Sierra Club filed a new report with legal comments advocating that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognize that Southwestern Electric Power Company’s (SWEPCO) Pirkey Coal Plant near Longview is worsening the region’s existing Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and should expand the current Martin Lake SO2 nonattainment area to include Pirkey, a significant contributor of pollution to the Longview area. Sierra Club also submitted a modeling report and relied on State of Texas monitored data to show that Xcel’s Harrington coal plant in Amarillo is causing significant and routine violations of public health standards for SO2 pollution in the surrounding community.
Sierra Club’s reports show that this pollution is worse locally in Northeast Texas and Amarillo than previously understood. Sulfur dioxide pollution is not only harmful by itself in the immediate area, but it contributes to fine particulate matter which travels downwind, endangering families across Texas and creating hazy skies in our cities and national parks alike.
“We are already battling local sources of pollution from fires at the training center for firefighters to Martin Lake coal plant which is the largest source of sulfur dioxide pollution in the country,” said Winsell Coleman, President of the Longview National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). “To know that there is another coal plant known as Pirkey coal plant only some miles North causing more issues to our health and skies from here all the way to Dallas but only one coal plant is being cited as in 'non attainment' meaning it is considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, it doesn't make sense.”
Coal burning plants like Harrington, Pirkey, and Martin Lake are the largest sources of dangerous sulfur dioxide pollution in the nation. These plants lack adequate pollution controls to significantly cut dangerous air pollutants including sulfur dioxide. SO2 pollution in Martin Lake is so bad that many community members fear for their health.
EPA is evaluating the SO2 pollution from Pirkey and proposes to classify the area immediately surrounding Pirkey coal plant as attainment with the public health standard for SO2. However, Sierra Club’s analysis demonstrates that Pirkey’s pollution is worsening the non attainment area attributed to Martin Lake’s pollution and therefore Pirkey should also be included in this nonattainment area. Once EPA acts to expand the current nonattainment area around Martin Lake to include Pirkey, Texas will be required to produce a plan to reduce dangerous SO2 pollution from both Martin Lake and Pirkey coal plants.
In the Texas Panhandle, state monitoring data from near Harrington shows dangerous SO2 pollution levels of up to three times the public health standard. Sierra Club conducted additional modeling, which corroborates the state data, and shows that Texas’ monitor likely isn’t even finding the highest concentrations of SO2 pollution.
“EPA is not evaluating the SO2 emissions from Harrington in a current rulemaking, but the agency really should be. We know that the area surrounding Harrington is improperly classified as ‘unclassifiable/attainment’ for SO2 pollution,” said Chrissy Mann, Texas Senior Campaign Representative with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “This alone is sufficient for EPA to act.”