A State of Texas independent agency designed to conduct hearings and fact-finding on licensing matters, among other issues, has agreed to hear a challenge to the construction of a new proposed gas plant.
The El Paso Electric company has proposed construction of a 228 megawatt natural gas replacement unit that will go up on the northeast side of El Paso on a 175-acre site near Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
In a statement, Kelly Tomblin, chief executive officer of El Paso Electric, said the new plant, called Newman Unit 6, is designed to replace three natural gas facilities built more than sixty years ago, and will “use less natural gas, decrease water usage by 600 million gallons per year, and improve system reliability.”
Last fall members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave their approval to the project, as did the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
But now two environmental groups long opposed to the project have been granted a hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings relating specifically to the Environmental Quality Commission’s actions.
Administrative Law Judge Rebecca Smith has ruled that both the Sierra Club and Chaparral Community Coalition for Helping the Environment have standing to challenge the environmental commission’s decision.
Smith also tasked the two groups, along with El Paso Electric, to come to an agreement upon a date for the hearing.
El Paso Electric has earlier said that it wants work to begin on the Newman Unit 6 plant by late 2021 with an eye to making the facility fully operational in 2023.
By Garry Boulard
