Regulatory Approvals and Their Failure

I was reading an excellent article on natural gas and pipelines in The Oil Drum.  Having made it to the comment section, I noted a reference to the recent approvals received for the construction of a new coal fired power generation plant on the Texas coast.  The Commentor referred to this facility as an 'illogic investment".

As one involved in the planning and permitting of these types of facilities, my immediate thought was how did such an "illogic investment" ever make it through the system of planning and approvals.  In many ways (in Canada and the US) we have a very good system that supports energy development in a responsible manner - but it only works if it is followed (proponents) and managed (regulators).  We "trust" the planners, constructors, operators and managers to do the right thing.  As one can clearly see though "trust" these days seems harder and harder to come by.  One of the things that bothered me with the Macondo well blowout was people said there was enough regulation.  I believe that all the applications and authorizations were granted without due care and attention to some important details - as was the operations in those final days on the rig.  


So why you approve the construction and operation of a coal fired electricity generating plant next door to a substantive existing generator on top of a developing gas field to burn crap (heat value) coal is beyond me.  To me this particular process failed miserably - unless there are facts/realities that I am not taking into account.  In reality this only causes misallocation of capital and poor return on investment - ultimately - save those few that greased all the wheels to make it happen.  Until we realize that these self-serving actions at multiple levels only harm the process for, we will continue to see such waste in energy, effort and resources.