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Latest Version

Updated by caroday on Feb 21, 2007 15:02:37

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

UPDATE: On February 20, 2007, Judge Stephen Yelenosky issued a ruling granting a temporary injunction to end the State Office of Administrative Hearings' (SOAH) adherence to the Governor's executive order. This judgment comes one day before the formal hearing on the merits for 6 of the proposed TXU permits was to begin.

On February 21, the administrative law judges at SOAH postponed the TXU hearings until June 27, 2007. This will give the parties more opportunities to conduct limited discovery and prepare their cases for and against the permits.
_______

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

Through the process of a contested case hearing protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. This process takes places before an administrative law judge at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).

At the end of the hearing process, the administrative law judge then makes a recommendation to the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. The week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protestants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Links and References

Environmental Defense's stoptxu.com contains more information and maps of the locations of the proposed plants.

TXU's Powering the Future of Texas plan ReliableTexasPower.com

Goodwyn, Wade "Critics Blast Texas Plans for New 'Dirty' Coal Plants" NPR 9/25/06

Version No. 10

Updated by caroday on Feb 21, 2007 9:02:38

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

UPDATE: On February 20, 2007, Judge Stephen Yelenosky issued a ruling granting a temporary injunction to end the State Office of Administrative Hearings' adherence to the Governor's executive order. This judgment comes one day before the formal hearing on the merits for 6 of the proposed TXU permits was to begin.
_______

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

Through the process of a contested case hearing protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. This process takes places before an administrative law judge at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).

At the end of the hearing process, the administrative law judge then makes a recommendation to the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. The week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protestants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Links and References

Version No. 9

Updated by as1114 on Jan 2, 2007 14:30:40

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

Through the process of a contested case hearing protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. The week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Links and References

Version No. 8

Updated by jeweke on Dec 20, 2006 13:14:29

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Links and References

Environmental Defense's stoptxu.com contains more information and maps of the locations of the proposed plants.

Goodwyn, Wade "Critics Blast Texas Plans for New 'Dirty' Coal Plants" NPR 9/25/06

Version No. 7

Updated by caroday on Dec 18, 2006 13:31:07

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

For a link to more information and maps of the locations of the proposed plants see [LINK http://www.stoptxu.com LINK].

Version No. 6

Updated by mario on Nov 13, 2006 21:04:59

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed (Editor: Need specific location info on these proposed plants). This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Version No. 5

Updated by mario on Nov 13, 2006 21:03:28

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed (less thanigreater thanEditor: Need specific location info on these proposed plantsless than/igreater than). This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Version No. 4

Updated by tombouctou on Nov 12, 2006 19:59:32

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Version No. 3

Updated by tombouctou on Nov 12, 2006 19:40:04

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Version No. 2

Updated by tombouctou on Nov 12, 2006 19:10:07

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process.

Version No. 1

Updated by caroday on Nov 1, 2006 8:01:22

This is an older version of this article.

Rick Perry Fast-Tracks Coal Power Plants

Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2005 that fast-tracks the contested case hearing process for coal-fired power plants in Texas. The contested case hearing is the formal venue through which citizens are legally able to protest these permits.

It is through the process of the contested case hearing that protestants have the opportunity to analyze the proposed permit applications, gather evidence (through a discovery process) and present a formal case that identifies how the application or proposed permit is deficient. The administrative law judge then makes a recommendation the 3 Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with modifications that are, hopefully, more protective of the public. The Commission then has the final say on whether to accept the recommendations of the administrative law judge.

A case of this kind involves many steps and usually takes between 9 and 11 months. Rick Perry has said that this process should take 6. In a practical sense, this is an awful squeeze of time and resources for those citizen and groups who wish to formally protest the permit. With 18 new proposed power plants (11 by TXU alone), all coming down the pike in this same window, protestants are slammed. This week, the week of October 30th, 5 of TXU's proposed power plants began the contested case hearing process. This fast-tracking and overloading of applications is a deliberate move to overwhelm protesants and make the coal plants a done-deal.

The contested case hearing process takes time and money on both sides, but even when permits are finally issued, it is often the case that they have been improved by the process. Rick Perry doesn't believe that regular citizens should have a decent opportunity to protest permits that will affect them. He cares more for his cronies than the people.