Las Brisas hearing draws crowd
More than 50 gained right to challenge permit
By Dan Kelley
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Originally published February 17, 2009
Updated February 18, 2009
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CORPUS CHRISTI - More than 50 people gained the right to challenge an air permit for the Las Brisas Energy Center Tuesday, in a fast-moving, sometimes-chaotic preliminary hearing that drew a crowd that overwhelmed the initial meeting place.
More than 200 people showed up and most who asked for legal standing to fight the permit received it, after answering a few questions from the judge. The questions included how far away they lived from the plant and why they opposed it. Most said they feared health effects ranging from asthma to being unable to exercise outdoors. Being granted party status means they will have the opportunity to prove whether their concerns are valid at a hearing tentatively scheduled for Aug. 3 to Aug. 14 in Corpus Christi.
Representatives of Las Brisas launched few objections to people seeking party status. The proposed $3 billion petroleum coke-fueled power plant would be the largest industrial investment in Nueces County and the largest source of some pollutants.
John Upchurch, a managing director for Chase Power Development, the developer of the plant, said the threshold to participate was very low.
"If they have the proximity and they want the status, the process allows that," Upchurch said.
Administrative Law Judge Tommy Broyles said the number of parties will likely make for a messy proceeding, and said he’ll work to put the parties in no more than five groups based on common interests. The basis for determining those interests isn’t decided, but Broyles indicated that the large environmental non-profits such as the Sierra Club might form one group, two medical societies that asked for standing might form another and individuals speaking on their own behalf might form a third.
Broyles urged those seeking party status to think carefully about joining the case. He warned that continuing to participate may come with costs, such as being asked to share costs of transcripts. He also warned that people claiming specific health concerns from air pollution might be required to prove that their condition would worsen — which could require expert testimony and the release of medical records.
"Medical questions require a medical expert," Broyles said. "When you get to causation, it specifically requires a toxicologist."
Broyles also indicated that he would not accept evidence opposing the plant on the grounds that it would worsen global warming. He said the Legislature has not authorized him to do so.
Broyles also spent nearly two hours in the afternoon explaining the intricacies of Texas' administrative laws, explaining the process under which he would make his decision. He explained to at least two members of the audience that he didn’t know if an environmental impact statement had been performed — one hasn’t; officials from Las Brisas have said it isn’t required — and predicted that several members of the group would drop out of proceedings.
"I understand you want to be parties today," Broyles said, "but you won’t want to be parties two months from now."
When the hearing began at 10 a.m. Tuesday, members of the sizeable crowd asked several times to move the proceedings from the overwhelmed sixth-floor City Hall conference room. Eventually, fire marshals appeared and told Broyles that the crowd was too large. Security guards asked several people who could not find seats to leave. Broyles continued with the hearing when there were about 140 people remaining. He told those who did leave to return at 1 p.m. to the Del Mar College Center for Economic Development at 3209 S. Staples St. He reconvened the hearing at that larger facility after lunch.
Some environmentalists expressed concern that moving the hearing violated public notice provisions, but a lawyer for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality declared the move legal.
Broyles' assistant posted several signs in the City Hall conference room directing people to the new venue.