The Clash Between a Giant Coal Plant and Houston's Booming Suburbs

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Climate & Environment
The Clash Between a Giant Coal Plant and Houston’s Booming Suburbs

A Texas power station is a major producer of the pollutant sulfur dioxide. Neighbors are taking notice.


The W.A. Parish power plant can generate roughly 5% of Texas’ electricity.

By Kris Maher and Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky | Photography by Danielle Villasana
May 21, 2026 5:30 am ET

THOMPSONS, Texas—One of the fastest-growing counties in the nation is also home to one of its biggest coal-fired power plants: the W.A. Parish Generating Station.

The plant, in Fort Bend County, is the largest in Texas and can generate about 5% of the state’s electricity. It also contributes to air pollution in Houston and haze as far away as Arkansas. Now its towering stacks are fueling residents’ concerns about the air they are breathing.

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. I live in Fort Bend

There needs to be more coverage on this plant

[hatrack]

2. But it has "Carbon Capture"! That is, one of the Parish plant's boilers does! The CO2 is used to pump more oil!

It even operates, some of the time! It's green!!

EDIT

The Petra Nova carbon emissions reduction system cost approximately $1 billion to install, and received a nearly $190 million grant from the U.S. Government[9] under the Clean Coal Initiative, as well as a $250 million loan from the Japanese government. The increased oil recovery in the adjacent oil field was expected to result in a net savings. However, when the project was first proposed oil prices were very high (at $100 per barrel) and it was assumed that they would not drop. As of 2017, the current oil price was about $50 per barrel and therefore a net loss has resulted regarding the oil production at the field.[10] On May 1, 2020, NRG shut down Petra Nova, citing the low cost of oil as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]

EDIT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Nova