EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Sunrise El Paso members and other climate action advocacy groups are protesting the addition of a new generator in the El Paso Electric Chaparral substation in Northeast El Paso.
“Since El Paso is one of the sunniest cities in the world, we should take advantage of our solar energy rather than focusing on fracking plants and fracking all sorts of energy that are harmful to the environment,” protester Ana Fuentes said.
The group is concerned this would impact air quality by emitting considerable amounts of greenhouse gasses. They propose using solar power instead of coal or fossil fuel, but El Paso Electric says they are proposing using a combination of solar, battery, and natural gas.
The utility adds the new system would actually help reduce carbon emissions.
“So the utility has moved to a coal-free utility, and as we look to the future, reducing carbon out of the air, so we are reducing carbon emissions and looking into a carbon-neutral or reduced carbon generation utility,” said Eddie Gutierrez with El Paso Electric.
El Paso Electric says the new generator would replace two old units and use less water and air cooling technology, which reduces its carbon footprint.
