The El Paso Electric Company is set to open a power plant in far east El Paso County, but some area residents aren't happy about it and tell KFOX14 they just found out about the plans for the plant.

KFOX14 first reported the El Paso Electric Company's plan to expand and build a power plant in far east El Paso County near the intersection of Montana Avenue and Zaragoza Road.

The plant could cost up to $200 million and would create enough power for up to 80,000 homes.

The company said it had sent out information to the public and hosted a community meeting on April 17 at the San Juan Diego Church. It also claims EPE representatives met with local officials and community leaders who represent the area where the power plant will be and have attempted to schedule neighborhood meetings, but they have been cancelled or rescheduled.

But a group of area residents claim they hadn't heard anything about the plant, and neither had some of their neighbors.

"They never let us know anything. I stumbled upon this because I spoke to a friend who knew about it," said Ralph Carrasco, who lives in the area.

Carrasco said after doing their own research, he, along with other area residents, put together a flyer and sent it out to raise public awareness and ask their neighbors to oppose the plant through the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, or TCEQ.

"I have a copy here of the air quality permit for the El Paso power plant, and it states that significant amounts of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and ammonia are going to be released. It also states that they're going to have the best available control technology to monitor it, but that doesn't guarantee anything and doesn't have specifics," he said.

Edward Doblado, another resident, said, "Residents need to be aware of any health hazards, whether their homes will depreciate in value and what a plan of action is if there is a disaster. I think people should prepare themselves; call El Paso Electric or log on to TCEQ. There's a permit number, 102294. Post your comments on there and let them know what your concerns are."

El Paso Electric's CEO, Tom Shockley, says every plant creates some type of pollution, but it is regulated, and this plant will run on natural gas. It will not have any hazardous waste like one of the pictures of the Newman power plant printed in the flyers residents have put out.

"The wonderful thing about this generator is that it uses natural gas, and it is absolutely the cleanest fuel that you can make electricity with, and as we build these new plants, we comply with all of the requirements so that we can monitor that things are within the limits that we had agreed to," said Shockley.

Doblado questioned the location of the plant, saying, "I understand that they want to tap into that natural gas line, but we have pipelines running across the entire east side down to the Lower Valley. There's plenty of space where they can keep it away from people and not put it in their back yards."

Shockley's said the plant is needed in far east El Paso and will not put residents at risk.

"This area is literally the most actively growing area that we have, and with regards to others (power plants) being not so close, our plant over on the west side has got residences much closer than this. We'll have to go to Rosa's Cantina, and I'll show you how close they are," he said.

EPE will continue to try to schedule more community meetings, but those concerned will have till Nov. 25 to post on the TCEQ website. The Montana Power Plant Permit number is 102294.

http://www10.tceq.texas.gov/epic/ecmnts/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.welcome&error1=You%20must%20enter%20a%20permit%20number.&CFID=81010&CFTOKEN=38816723

The TCEQ will then respond to all comments. The public can also contest for a case hearing. If approved, it would go before a state commission, and this could alter or prevent the permit necessary for the plant.

So far, TCEQ has received 52 comments and 11 requests for a case hearing. There have also been several requests for a public meeting.