Port Comfort Repowering Project

The Port Comfort plant was originally built by Central Power and Light in 1971. American Electric Power bought the plant years later, but shut it down in 2002. The plant was then purchased by Sempra Energy, and then by the Calhoun County Navigation District. NuCoastal Power Corporation, privately-owned energy company, signed a lease-to-purchase agreement with the navigation district, intending to repower the plant to burn petroleum coke and coal.

In August 2007, Public Citizen and SEED reached an agreement with NuCoastal, under which they would drop their opposition to the plant in exchange for a commitment by the company to offset its mercury and carbon dioxide emissions – partially through purchasing mercury and CO2 credits. The deal has been widely reported in the both U.S. and Europe, and is widely seen as precedent-setting for the emerging U.S. emissions trading markets.

In 2009, NuCoastal transferred ownership of the project to Calhoun Port Authority.

In October 2011, Calhous Port Authority applied for a permit with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to construct a natural gas facility on the same site as the proposed pet coke plant. In February 2012, the air permit for the pet coke plant expired.

Project Details
Sponsor: NuCoastal Power Corporation Location: Point Comfort, Calhoun County, TX Capacity: 303 MW Type: Circulating fluidized bed Projected in service: Status: Cancelled 2012

Citizen Groups

 * Stop the Coal Plant
 * Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden, karen [at] seedcoalition.org
 * Texas Sierra Club, Neil Carman, neil_carman [at] greenbuilder.com
 * Texas Public Citizen, jcarraway [at] citizen.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Coal plant litigation
 * Texas and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)