Richmond power plant playing 'vital role' in energy supply linked to 180 deaths a year, study says

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Fort Bend County residents are taking their concerns about air pollution directly to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In 2018, a research group led by a Rice University scientist attributed almost 180 premature deaths a year to particulate matter emitted from the W.A. Parish Plant in Richmond.

W.A. Parish is the largest coal-fired plant in the state and the second-largest contributor of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.

Last year, a Fort Bend County health assessment linked cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and respiratory diseases to air pollution.

"My father had Alzheimer's. My mother has Alzheimer's, and I'm really interested in that connection," Vero Pina said.

Pina, who grew up in Fort Bend County, now helps run the environmental organization Fort Bend Environmental.

She helped organize a letter-writing event at the First Colony Branch Library Tuesday night. Participants sent letters directly to the EPA supporting the "regional haze rule."

It is a revision of a 2017 EPA measure intended to reduce industrial haze in national parks created by coal-fired power plants like W.A. Parish. If passed, the EPA predicts it will decrease sulfur dioxide emissions by 80,000 tons per year. In turn, it is improving air quality in counties like Fort Bend, where W.A. Parish Plant gives off about 34,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year.

"If we don't make any actions or changes now, nothing is going to be good for us," Lily Huitz, a rising Fort Bend ISD senior, said.

Public comment on "the regional haze rule" is open until Aug. 2.

NRG operates W.A. Parish. In a statement, an NRG spokesperson told ABC13:

"NRG is assessing the proposed EPA regional haze rule and the impact it could have on WA Parish Units 5 and 6 and will provide responses to the EPA during the public comment period. WA Parish continues to comply with standards as they evolve, and the air quality in the area around the facility and Fort Bend County are attaining the federal SO2 air quality standard. We have questions regarding the modeling used by the EPA in developing the rule."

"W.A. Parish plays a vital role in providing much-needed power in the ERCOT market, especially during the extended hot weather that we've experienced this summer," the spokesperson added.

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