Air permit gets state push

'Burdensome?', only for the very small 'c'apitalism they've led for some three decades now!!

Proposed plant in Corpus Christi tries to get air permit from state before federal regulations tick in

Developers of Las Brisas Energy Center say new rules will be burdensome.

Oct. 24, 2010 - Facing the prospect of federal limits on carbon emissions for new major plants or refineries after the start of the year, companies across the country are racing to get pollution permits.

Texas regulators have showed themselves willing to oblige. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's chairman this month pressed administrative law judges to hurry up their review of one utility's proposed plant — after those same judges had previously recommended denying a permit for the plant.

Developers of the Las Brisas Energy Center, which would be built in Corpus Christi's Inner Harbor and burn enough coal-like petroleum coke to power 650,000 homes, have said in legal filings that they would like their power plant approved before the start of the year to avoid the prospect of carbon dioxide regulations.

"While no one can anticipate if or how these rules will be implemented and what effect they might have on applications still in the permitting process, at risk is a complete overhaul of the existing air quality permitting process that could delay by years any applications \u2026 including the application at issue," says a September filing by Las Brisas to two administrative law judges.

The judges are charged with making a recommendation to the state environmental commission on whether to grant the company an air permit, which describes the amount of pollution the facility will emit and the efforts the company will make to limit it. The filing explained why Las Brisas wanted it sped along. {read rest}