Environmental

More Than One Thousand People Pledge to Move Beyond TXU


DALLAS, TX–(ENEWSPF)–April 29, 2013.  Less than three weeks after the public launch of the Beyond TXU campaign in Dallas, the Sierra Club has reached a milestone: more than one thousand people have signed the pledge to “move beyond TXU” and seek a cleaner, cheaper electric service provider. TXU Energy is owned by Energy Future Holdings (EFH), which was formed in 2007 by Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and KKR in the nation’s largest-ever leveraged buyout. Energy Future Holdings owns four large and aging coal plants in Texas. These four coal-fired power plants alone generate one quarter of all industrial air pollution in Texas and include the nation’s single largest source of mercury air pollution.

“The Sierra Club launched the Beyond TXU campaign in Dallas less than three weeks ago to send the message that Energy Future Holdings cannot ignore the serious problems at their coal-fired power plants any longer,” said Dr. Al Armendariz, senior campaign representative with Sierra Club in Texas. “We’re seeing a strong response from the public as we work to educate people about TXU Energy’s connection to Energy Future Holdings and their four toxic coal plants. As EFH moves toward bankruptcy, it should be clear to everybody that not only is the Sierra Club legally challenging the illegal pollution from Energy Future’s coal plants, we’re working to show Dallas area residents that TXU is a bad moral choice for an electricity provider.”

The Sierra Club launched the Dallas-based public campaign on April 11 with a telephone press conference, an online ad buy on Dallas-area media sites, and a billboard on John Carpenter Freeway West of downtown Dallas. In addition, Sierra Club volunteers, including student leaders at SMU, are presenting information about the campaign to church groups and the public. Beyond TXU activists recently held an information booth at the Dallas Earth Day celebration.  

“Once people learn that TXU Energy is connected to Energy Future Holdings, one of the dirtiest companies in Texas, they want to sign the pledge and switch their power provider,” said Flavia de la Fuente, Beyond TXU organizer with Sierra Club. “Some of our supporters switched because TXU Energy’s prices are higher than clean energy plans and some people pledge to switch as soon as their contract is up. Right now, more than one thousand Texans have already said they don’t want to do business with a company connected to four of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in Texas.”

Businesses, churches, governments, and families who want to learn more about moving Beyond TXU can visit beyondtxu.org. To see comments from customers who pledged to move Beyond TXU, follow @beyondtxu on Twitter.

Source: sierraclub.org

 


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