Dig Deeper Texas

Okay, am I missing something here?

MySA.com: Business

TXU, though, disputes the notion that its proposed plants would greatly contribute to pollution and use outmoded technology.

The utility said it would offset harmful emissions from all 11 new proposed units by making reductions at existing plants.

“When these cleaner-burning units come online, they’ll replace older units,” TXU spokeswoman Kim Morgan said.

In addition, TXU plans to spend $500 million to retrofit units to obtain a 20 percent reduction in emissions of three harmful substances: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

TXU is going to use older plants to offset pollution caused by new plants? Shouldn’t the new plants already incorporate pollution reducing technologies that don’t exist in older plants? They say that “When these cleaner-burning units come online, they’ll replace older units” so it would seem to be the case.

So how are existing plants going to offset harmful emissions from new plants? And since TXU is going to spend money to retrofit units, does that mean the existing plants won’t offset emissions until the money is spent? And I don’t see how existing plants could offset emissions if they are replaced as new ones come online.

This could just be a case of bad reporting. But if it isn’t, I think TXU needs to answer some questions.

• Why would older plants be able to offset emissions from new plants?
• Which existing plants will be “offsetting” for the new ones?
• Which existing plants will be retrofitted?
• Which existing plants will be replaced as the new ones come online?

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