Sierra Club and representatives of pecan growers and producers in Fayette and Colorado Counties in the Texas Pecan Alliance have requested compensation for losses resulting from pollution from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and City of Austin’s Fayette Power Project coal plant.
“Over two dozen orchards and the livelihoods of my family and many of our neighbors have been seriously impacted by the pollution from Fayette coal plant,” said Harvey Hayek of Hayek Farm and the Texas Pecan Alliance. “In 1980, the year after the coal plant went on line, we saw the abundant production out here drop and then in the Nineties, the trees began to die. Recently, I had to buy a bag of pecans at H.E.B. so my wife could make cookies.”
Hayek and almost 50 people in the Texas Pecan Alliance met with LCRA officials and engineers from Austin Energy and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on November 16. Since the meeting, the TCEQ is considering additional monitoring, members of Austin City Council have set up meetings for further discussion, and the LCRA has denied Fayette coal plant contributed to pecan industry losses.
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