Abilene Mayor Cannot Support Selling Water to Tenaska

In what (in my opinion) is a surprising announcement, Abilene Mayor, Norm Archibald, announced his opposition to the City of Abilene selling water to the Tenaska Trailblazer plant planned for near Sweetwater.

I don't know what this will mean to the Abilene City Council's actions scheduled for later this year, but it certainly adds a new wrinkle to the story. A public hearing is scheduled for July 29, 2010, and anyone interested in the outcome should consider attending.

You can also view Mayor Archibald's interview with KRBC and the KTAB live report of Mayor Archibald's announcement here.

Abilene City Council to Hold Hearing on Tenaska Water Request

The Abilene City Council will hold a public hearing on Tenaska's request to purchase water from the City of Abilene.

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. at the Abilene Civic Center Conference Center.

Abilene City Council Holds Public Hearing on Tenaska Water Request

On December 3, 2009, the Abilene City Council held a public hearing on Tenaska's request to purchase almost 2 million gallons of treated waste water from the City of Abilene. The City Council took no action during the hearing, and will make the determination of whether to sell the water to Tenaska after the first of the year.

Proponents of selling the water to Tenaska touted the economic benefits and said the plant wouldn’t be detrimental to the environment.

Opponents said that the plant would hurt the environment and that the money the city would make from the sale wouldn’t offset the health dangers. They said the city shouldn’t sell water, even though it would gain hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from doing so.

Read full story in the Abilene Reporter News.

Study Finds Abilene has Enough Water for Tenaska

On Thursday, the Abilene City Council was presented a study by their Water Utilities Department, finding that the City of Abilene has enough water to meet it's own needs and still provide a significant amount of treated wastewater to the proposed Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center that, if built,  will be located just east of Sweetwater. Tenaska had requested that the city provide up to 1.8 million gallons of the treated water per day to operate its cooling system. The City of Sweetwater had been in talks with Tenaska, the Omaha, Neb. based energy company, to supply them with at least one million gallons of wastewater per day, but suspended talks earlier this year, due to the lack of available water in Nolan County.

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"In addition to the revenue from water sales, the City of Abilene will receive significant economic benefits from the Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center, including the creation of 1,500 jobs at peak construction, millions in local economic spending, and increased oil production," said Manroe.

Manroe also added that Trailblazer will be designed as one of the most environmentally responsible energy facilities in the nation. It will include state-of-the-art emission controls, which will lead to significantly lower average emission rates than existing coal plants, in addition to being among the first conventional coal-fueled plants to capture 85 to 90 percent of carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, and use it for enhanced oil recovery. "This new, cleaner source of energy will actually decrease overall emissions in Texas by displacing electricity that would otherwise be generated by older plants, which emit more," she said.

No action was taken on the matter, but a public hearing is planned for Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 at Abilene City Hall in the Council Chambers, Second Floor, 555 Walnut Street.

Read full story in Sweetwater Reporter.

Abilene has Enough Reclaimed Water to Meet Tenaska's Needs Study Finds

The city of Abilene has enough water to meet its long-term needs and still provide a significant amount of “reclaimed water” — or treated sewage — to a proposed coal-fired energy plant east of Sweetwater, a study presented to the City Council today has concluded.

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After the workshop, officials associated with Tenaska and Nolan County — where the proposed $3.5 billion plan would be located — expressed optimism that the council would ultimately approve the company’s water request.

A hearing will be held on December 3, 2009 for public input on the matter. Abilene Mayor Norm Archibald encouraged Abilene and Sweetwater residents to attend. I would encourage all Nolan County residents to attend.

Read full story in Abilene Reporter News.