Opponents of coal plants trying to cut off water

Coalition of water users

Jon Boyd, Oct 26, 10.

Opponents of coal-fired thermoelectric plants are pursuing a new strategy of cutting off the water supply, according to Matthew Tresaugue of the Houston Chronicle. Thermoelectric plants produce electricity from steam-driven turbines, and the steam is generated by using nuclear power or burning fossil fuels to heat water, says the Chronicle story. These plants are the largest consumers of water in the country, making them vulnerable to water shortages. For coal opponents, this is an opportunity to disrupt the operations of the state’s thirty coal-fired plants, while forming a coalition of water interests, according to the article:

There is a new front in the fight over whether Texas should build more coal-fired power plants — water.

The various water factions - farmers, environmentalists and growing, thirsty cities - have come together as allies against proposed coal plants across the state, with battles now raging from Abilene to Corpus Christi.

Their shared concern: The plants will use too much of an already stressed resource. So the unlikely allies are asking water suppliers to not sell the rights to billions of gallons to the plants, seizing on the notion that, perhaps more than ever, water still shapes destiny.

“Water is where they are most vulnerable,” said Ryan Rittenhouse, who works on the watchdog group Public Citizen’s anti-coal campaign in Texas. “If (water agencies) don’t sell the water, we don’t know where else they can get it.”

The revival of the age-old debate about the best use of water represents the last, best chance to stop the state’s coal boom - in keeping with an aphorism, often attributed to Mark Twain, that out West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting, the anti-coal forces say.

Coal-fired power plants are commonly identified as the nation’s biggest emissions villain. But that notoriety hasn’t slowed the rush to build them in Texas, where there are nearly 30 coal plants either operating, permitted or proposed.

What has given many folks pause is the amount of water consumed by the plants.

Thermoelectric power plants - those that use heat to generate power, such as nuclear, coal and natural gas - are the single largest user of water in the United States. In Texas alone, they consume 157 billion gallons annually - enough water for more than 3 million people, each using 140 gallons per day, a recent University of Texas at Austin analysis found.

Burning coal produces heat that turns water into steam, which spins turbines that produce electricity. Even more water is used in the cooling process employed at some power plants in which steam is condensed back into water for reuse.

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