{"id":1873,"date":"2011-06-22T11:58:30","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T15:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/san-antonio-promises-to-shut-down-a-coal-plant.html"},"modified":"2011-06-22T11:58:30","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T15:58:30","slug":"san-antonio-promises-to-shut-down-a-coal-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/san-antonio-promises-to-shut-down-a-coal-plant.html","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio promises to shut down a coal plant"},"content":{"rendered":"We could do something like this.\nWe’ve already made a start with Wiregrass Solar.\n

\n\nSan Antonio, the Clean-Energy City?\nLook out Austin, SA Mayor Julian Castro promises to shut-down a coal plant by 2018.<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAt an event this afternoon at UT-San Antonio, Mayor Julian Castro\nannounced a suite of green energy projects that he said would position\nSan Antonio as the nation’s “recognized leader in clean energy technology”\nand help fulfill his aggressive environmental goals.\n

\nMost notably, Castro and leaders from CPS Energy, the city-owned utility,\npledged to shut down one of its coal-fired power plants 15 years ahead\nof schedule. By 2018, the city would mothball the 871-megawatt J.T. Deely\nPower Plant — a bold move in a growing state that’s seemingly addicted\nto coal.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSo what are they going to use for energy?\n\n\n

\n\n<\/a>\nSan Antonio plans to make up for the loss of power from Deely through a\nmix of energy efficiency and new renewable energy projects, including\ntwo solar power plants announced today: a 30-megawatt facility to be\nbuilt by SunEdison and a 50-plus-MW plant, with the provider yet to be\nselected. Together with a 14-MW facility that opened recently in South\nSan Antonio, the solar plants would push the city close to its goal of\n100-MW of solar power by 2020.\n<\/blockquote>\nThat’s right: solar.\n

\nAnd it’s not just energy they’re generating by coming out strong for\nclean energy, it’s jobs:\n

\nMayor Castro also bragged on the clean-energy business growth in San\nAntonio, including the relocation of four companies — two of them,\nhowever, from nearby Boerne — to San Antonio, including SunEdison\nopening a regional headquarters there.\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd they’re aiming high:\n
\nThe announcements, Castro said, would “truly define the nexus between\nsustainability and job creation.” San Antonio, he said, could become to\nclean energy what Boston is to biotech or the Bay Area is to high-tech.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nIt’s not even just about energy or jobs,\n\nit’s about health<\/a>:\n

\n\n<\/a>\n“San Antonio’s decision to phase out the Deely coal plant signals the\nbeginning of the end of the coal-burning era and its associated air\npollution and illness in Texas,” said Eva Hernandez, with Sierra Club’s\nBeyond Coal campaign.\n<\/blockquote>\nSo come on Valdosta and Lowndes County, let’s start hearing the excuses:\n“we’re nowhere near as big as that”, “we don’t own an electric company”,\n“we can never be….”\n

\n\n<\/a>\nOr maybe we can start hearing some real transparency and vision!\nValdosta and Lowndes County (and Hahira and Lake Park and Remerton and Dasher)\n\ncan be leaders in bringing solar jobs through solar energy to south Georgia.<\/a>\nMaybe we don’t use enough electricity to shut down Plant Scherer,\nbut we could use enough solar to stop buying from Plant Scherer.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nDon’t believe it’s possible?\nEven after we’ve made a good start on it with the\n\nWiregrass Solar plant?<\/a>\nEven in conjunction with wind off the coast?\nOK,\n\nlet’s do the renewable energy study<\/a> for south Georgia\nand find out!\n

\n“I think the take-home message is that San Antonio is about to leave\nAustin in the dust,” said Ryan Rittenhouse, of Public Citizen. “The\nentire rest of the country should be following their lead.”\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<\/a>\nAnd we could lead south Georgia\n\nand maybe Georgia and the southeast.<\/a>\nWe know people\nwho do have vision\nand who already helped build the Wiregrass Solar plant.<\/a>\nWe can start with following up on the initiative by Mayor Fretti\nand Commissioner Powell\n\nto expand the Wiregrass Solar plant to a megaWatt.<\/a>\n

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