Fayette Coal
Power Plant
The Fayette Power Project is a coal-fired plant, run and co-owned by Austin Energy and The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). The first plant was built in 1979, with the third and final unit completed in 1988. The plant is located on SH 71 between the cities of La Grange, Tx, and Ellinger, Tx about 88 miles away from the City of Austin. The plant has been susceptible to environmental hazard claims made by both locals and environmental groups that led to the City of Austin's commitment to close its portion by the end of 2021 but, rolled back its plan, citing it could not reach an agreement with LCRA.
"We've been talking to LCRA for a while," Pat Sweeny, Austin Energy's vice president for power production, told KUT, "At the end of the day, we just couldn't come to terms that both parties could agree to, to allow us to exit at an affordable basis and at the timeline that was contemplated." [1]
Shutting down its portion of the plant by 2022 had been a key part of the Austin Climate Equity Plan in archiving the city's climate goals.
Crop failure linked to Fayette
Litigation
LCRA’s Fayette Power Project is under legal attack by three anti-pollution groups who filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. [2].