Results in the New Jersey Environmental-Energy big leagues:
Princeton-based NRG Energy picks up road win in Texas
Environmental regulators in the Lone Star State have approved a draft permit to allow the energy company to build a $1.2 billion pulverized coal unit at its Limestone station near Jewett, some 120 miles northwest of Houston.
The Jersey team recorded the win over a scrappy team of environmental groups and some nearby property owners who are challenging the state’s air-permitting process, citing Texas’ ranking as the leading emitter of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.
In its last successful outing, NRG Energy acquired Bluewater Wind, the wind-energy company that hopes to install turbine farms off the coasts of Delaware and New Jersey.
Covanta scores win in South Carolina, loss in Connecticut
The Chester County Council gave initial approval this week to recommendations from the county’s planning and zoning boards to rezone 100 acres off S.C. 9 to allow Fairfield, NJ-based Covanta Energy to build a waste-to-energy plant near Fort Lawn, SC.
The project is expected to cost at least $500 million and create around 50 permanent jobs, along with related temporary jobs, said John Phillips, vice president of business development for Covanta, which operates more than 40 of these plants around the country. The project faces as second vote at a specially called meeting Friday, and a final vote in December.
Meanwhile, Covanta suffered a loss to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Covanta has agreed to a settlement over an emissions violation discovered at the trash-to energy plant in Wallingford that Covanta operates for the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.
Instead of a fine, Covanta will pay $355,000 to the DEP to fund local recycling programs. The excess dioxin emissions were discovered during the plant’s annual performance test on May 23, 2007.
Dennis Schain, a DEP spokesman, said the dioxin violation was not severe enough to pose an immediate threat to public health. Covanta corrected the violation quickly and that the plant has not had any emission violations since, he said.
Related:
Texas issues draft permit for new NRG coal unit
Chester County incinerator would add jobs, millions in taxes
Covanta funds recycling effort to settle pollution case
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