Hundreds of protesters lined the south steps of the Capitol Sunday to send a message to Governor Rick Perry and legislators.  They’re calling for a moratorium on “fast tracking permits” for coal power plants.

Mardi Gras is still more than a week away, so many of the outlandish costumes featured on the steps of the Capitol weren’t for Fat Tuesday, they were for effect on Sunday.

KVUE

Hundreds rally in front of the Capitol on Sunday.

"We don't need to continue to poison the people of Texas and giving them cancer,” said Max Shumate, of the Sulphur River Oversight Committee.

Hundreds gathered to protest what they say are the environmentally hazardous consequences of fast tracking licensing permits for coal-fired power plants.

"It's ridiculous.  We're actually doubling the total number of power plants in this state in permitting in six months.  There's no need for the rush,” said Rita Beving, of the Sierra Club in Dallas.  

"The government … is trying to force something on the folks of Texas without giving them an opportunity to have a word about it,” said Shumate.

State Representative Doc Henderson, R-Waco, has filed a resolution calling for a fast track moratorium.  Surprisingly, he says Governor Rick Perry, at the time, was correct to put the coal plants on the fast track for permits because energy production in the Gulf of Mexico had been devastated by two hurricanes and natural gas was at about $15. 

“Now, everything's back up to speed.  Gas is about seven dollars.  There's a huge find in Fort Worth, there's plants out there now. Most of TXU's plants are natural gas.  They could use those plants.  Let's go about this slow and sure and in a controlled process."

In a rare move, instead of a company spokesman, TXU brought several employees to Austin and let them do the talking.

“I live in the community and I've raised two children there.  I would not have done so if I thought TXU was harming them in anyway,” said Caprice Knight, a TXU employee. 

“We're proposing to answer a long term energy issue for Texas and provide for further economic growth and at the same time, we're looking to clean up the air.  A 20-percent reduction from where we are today and adding the additional megawatts we're adding is pretty remarkable,” said another TXU employee, Phil Berry.

The protesters say 20-percent is not enough.

"We're not against having a power plant, we're against having a dirty power plant,” said Shumate.  “There's gasification and other methods now of taking all of the pollutants, or at least 95-percent of them.  Why can't Texas have power and clean air too?”

Representative Henderson says nine coal-fired power plants along a 50-mile corridor in Waco already have been issued fast track permits.  He says since no air monitoring is being done, it’s time to slow down, and let science catch up.

Those who support the plants say the time is rapidly approaching when the electrical demands on our state will result when Texans flip the switch, only to find there’s no power.