Report: Texas Coal-Fired Power Plants are Leaking Cancerous Toxins into groundwater across Texas

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20442]

Lovely. Including arsenic.

 

Quote

In 1975, Alonzo Peeler Jr. figured that selling a small section of his ranchland to a power company was a sage financial move. Now 78, the lifelong rancher says he never would have guessed that San Miguel Electric Co-op, which operates a 440-megawatt power plant 65 miles south of San Antonio, would transform the property into a dump for toxic waste, contaminating groundwater and killing vegetation. And Peeler, who took the company to court over the pollution in August, is shocked that San Miguel Electric Co-Op is seeking to seize one-third of his ranch through eminent domain to avoid cleaning up their act.

“I wish I would have been fortunate enough 40 years ago to question this, ‘cause then we wouldn’t be having all these problems,” Peeler told the Observer. His 25,000-acre ranch now holds a dubious distinction: Of all the groundwater adjacent to coal-fired power plants in Texas, the water beneath the ranch is the most contaminated, according to a report released Thursday by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Arsenic levels there are 12 times higher than what’s considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. Massive levels of beryllium and cadmium, both known human carcinogens, have been detected in the water; beryllium at 190 times the safe level and cadmium at 130 times. The report also says that just across Peeler’s property line, San Miguel Electric Co-op operates improperly lined lagoons that hold coal ash, which is the toxic byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity.

https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/

I'm sure the free market will be along any minute now to take care of this. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Horn Under a Bad Sign

[happyfunball 481]

Isn't Rick Perry the head of the Department of Energy? Glad to see him failing Texas on a bigger stage

[Nivek 16945]

Poor company is just strangled by regulations.....

[Continental Op 3934]

Don't you mean "beautiful, clean coal" you libtard?  

[elfenix 34322]

TCEQ will get right on this, i'm certain

[wildcat09 29355]

Clearly we need more deregulation.

[Hank Kingsley 20972]

[Incredulity 11675]

TIL, they built and operated these coal plants exclusively under the watch of republicans.  Vanished like a fart in thenwind every eight years or so.

[David Dennison 18924]

1 minute ago, Incredulity said:

TIL, they built and operated these coal plants exclusively under the watch of republicans.  Vanished like a fart in thenwind every eight years or so.

Bless your heart.

[Incredulity 11675]

Just now, David Dennison said:

Bless your heart.

Fuck your face.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19119]

Lovely. Including arsenic.

 

In 1975, Alonzo Peeler Jr. figured that selling a small section of his ranchland to a power company was a sage financial move. Now 78, the lifelong rancher says he never would have guessed that San Miguel Electric Co-op, which operates a 440-megawatt power plant 65 miles south of San Antonio, would transform the property into a dump for toxic waste, contaminating groundwater and killing vegetation. And Peeler, who took the company to court over the pollution in August, is shocked that San Miguel Electric Co-Op is seeking to seize one-third of his ranch through eminent domain to avoid cleaning up their act.

“I wish I would have been fortunate enough 40 years ago to question this, ‘cause then we wouldn’t be having all these problems,” Peeler told the Observer. His 25,000-acre ranch now holds a dubious distinction: Of all the groundwater adjacent to coal-fired power plants in Texas, the water beneath the ranch is the most contaminated, according to a report released Thursday by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Arsenic levels there are 12 times higher than what’s considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. Massive levels of beryllium and cadmium, both known human carcinogens, have been detected in the water; beryllium at 190 times the safe level and cadmium at 130 times. The report also says that just across Peeler’s property line, San Miguel Electric Co-op operates improperly lined lagoons that hold coal ash, which is the toxic byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity.

https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/

I'm sure the free market will be along any minute now to take care of this. 


I’m actually surprised there are any coal fired plants still operating. They are not economic, especially in Texas given the way ERCOT works. I wonder how many of these are owned by utilities, who are not subject to the same market factors.

[F250 28784]

12 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

 

 

https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/

I'm sure the free market will be along any minute now to take care of this. 


I’m actually surprised there are any coal fired plants still operating. They are not economic, especially in Texas given the way ERCOT works. I wonder how many of these are owned by utilities, who are not subject to the same market factors.

A lot of these places are not subject to market forces, Deely Station mentioned in the article belongs to CPS and is owned by the City of San Antonio. When a company owned by the local government has a monopoly on power generation and distribution covering millions of people that company will be impervious to market forces.

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19119]

A lot of these places are not subject to market forces, Deely Station mentioned in the article belongs to CPS and is owned by the City of San Antonio. When a company owned by the local government has a monopoly on power generation and distribution covering millions of people that company will be impervious to market forces.
 

And that just proved my point. Those owned by either local goats or traditional utilities will not be subject to those market forces.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19119]

https://www.texasobserver.org/report-power-plants-are-leaking-cancer-causing-toxins-into-groundwater-across-texas/

I'm sure the free market will be along any minute now to take care of this. 


I’m actually surprised there are any coal fired plants still operating. They are not economic, especially in Texas given the way ERCOT works. I wonder how many of these are owned by utilities, who are not subject to the same market factors.

To be clear my comment actually started with the comment that coal fired plants are uneconomic in ERCOT. HUBS is the free market hater from the first post in the thread. Tapatalk quote fail.

[Bozo_Casanova 26494]

22 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

Clearly we need more deregulation.

As a heroic being, I clean my water by filtering it through the turgid prose of Ayn Rand. 

Edited January 19, 2019 by Bozo_Casanova

[Guest Lobo]

Will this give my Prius cancer when I plug it in?  

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

Yeah, but those windmills kill birds! 

[Telegraph_it 3358]

3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Will this give my Prius cancer when I plug it in?  

As long as you have a vanity plate that says NOMOGAS or BYE OIL you should be fine. 

[RPM 26323]

Why is he drinking groundwater? It's literally coming out of the ground. How clean could it be? Eww!

He should be buying Ozarka.

Edited January 19, 2019 by RPM

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20442]

2 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

 

To be clear my comment actually started with the comment that coal fired plants are uneconomic in ERCOT. HUBS is the free market hater from the first post in the thread. Tapatalk quote fail.

 

 

I am not a fee market hater but as a (mostly) retired hydrologist who has done projects around the world I realize that companies will sacrifice your environment for their economic gain without batting an eye and that the cleanup for such damage is not priced in or accounted for.  It's the Tragedy of the Commons all over again.  

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

53 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

As a heroic being, I clean my water by filtering it through the turgid prose of Ayn Rand. 

What pretentious, self righteous bitch she was.  The Fountainhead ... pfffft.  

[bernorange 8362]

I posted this story on the old site roughly 8 years ago:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40830410/ns/us_news-environment/t/coal-fired-power-plant-killing-farmers-trees/

I wonder if they ever tested the groundwater there or just latched on to the idea that is was only sulphur dioxide (airborne emissions) doing the damage.

[Js1 85425]

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 12:55 PM, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

 

 

And that just proved my point. Those owned by either local goats or traditional utilities will not be subject to those market forces.

 

Seems risky to hand over ownership to local goats.  But hey...

[Asithappens 974]

How many of those being affected voted for Trump?

It may be like the community in Indiana who voted for Trump and hence voted for more lax EPA regs. That community now has (or has had) a fairly high cancer rate.

Hey, vote for cancer and get cancer. It sucks and is a tragedy, but how much sympathy should one have for people who are now reaping what they have sown?

Edited January 21, 2019 by Asithappens

[atomheartbevo 89735]

On 1/19/2019 at 3:01 PM, RPM said:

Why is he drinking groundwater? It's literally coming out of the ground. How clean could it be? Eww!

He should be buying Ozarka.

Ozarka?  Please. The plebes drink that.  There’s only One True Water.  

[atomheartbevo 89735]

On 1/19/2019 at 2:24 PM, Bozo_Casanova said:

As a heroic being, I clean my water by filtering it through the turgid prose of Ayn Rand. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19119]

7 hours ago, Js1 said:

Seems risky to hand over ownership to local goats.  But hey...

COOPs.  My stupid phone autocorrected.  Honestly though, Goats might do better than some of the local governments.

Edited January 21, 2019 by PenelopeWitherspoon

[bernorange 8362]

They wouldn't be the greatest of all times if they couldn't!

Edited January 21, 2019 by bernorange

[Bullneck 19179]

On 1/18/2019 at 8:16 PM, Incredulity said:

TIL, they built and operated these coal plants exclusively under the watch of republicans.  Vanished like a fart in thenwind every eight years or so.

[Bullneck 19179]

On 1/19/2019 at 3:24 PM, Bozo_Casanova said:

As a heroic being, I clean my water by filtering it through the turgid prose of Ayn Rand. 

Why, I just drove past this street today . . . 

 

[Rip76 4943]

On 1/21/2019 at 9:01 AM, Asithappens said:

How many of those being affected voted for Trump?

It may be like the community in Indiana who voted for Trump and hence voted for more lax EPA regs. That community now has (or has had) a fairly high cancer rate.

Hey, vote for cancer and get cancer. It sucks and is a tragedy, but how much sympathy should one have for people who are now reaping what they have sown?

Huh?

[sidis 9832]

On 1/19/2019 at 3:13 PM, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

 

I am not a fee market hater but as a (mostly) retired hydrologist who has done projects around the world I realize that companies will sacrifice your environment for their economic gain without batting an eye and that the cleanup for such damage is not priced in or accounted for.  It's the Tragedy of the Commons all over again.   

I'm in hydrolics?

[Jiggy-Z 3433]

On 1/19/2019 at 3:13 PM, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

 

I am not a fee market hater but as a (mostly) retired hydrologist who has done projects around the world I realize that companies will sacrifice your environment for their economic gain without batting an eye and that the cleanup for such damage is not priced in or accounted for.  It's the Tragedy of the Commons all over again.  

...and if if the costs are somewhat accounted for, there is a costs to compel the polluters to remediate.  ...and remediation is usually never enough to undo the damage done.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20442]

17 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

...and if if the costs are somewhat accounted for, there is a costs to compel the polluters to remediate.  ...and remediation is usually never enough to undo the damage done.

 

Very true. Even accounting for market externalities does nothing to remediate the damage done when, say, a 32 year old man dies of cancer, leaving his wife and children behind.

[Jiggy-Z 3433]

23 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

 

Very true. Even accounting for market externalities does nothing to remediate the damage done when, say, a 32 year old man dies of cancer, leaving his wife and children behind.

Indeed.  I was speaking more to the environmental aspect of it.  Even with human costs, a dollar amount can be affixed and damage can be counted and attributed and families can get some kind of compensation even if it can never replace the lost life.  In other words, the human damage is known or can be eventually known while the environmental damage can go on for decades with spiraling tipping points and totally unforeseen or even unknown consequences.  

[Asithappens 974]

3 hours ago, sidis said:

I'm in hydrolics?

220. 221. Whatever it takes, dude.