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Archive for July 18th, 2008

Want some Kidney Stones to go with your Global Warming?

Posted in Global Warming, Renewables, tagged Coal, Global Warming, health effects, Renewables on July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

A new study from Tom Brikowski, a geosciences professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, and Drs. Yair Lotan and Margaret Pearle, urology professors at UT Southwestern Medical School, printed in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, made an interesting conclusion. More global warming will mean more kidney [...]

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Austin church installs solar panels

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged church, distributed generation, Renewables, solar on July 18, 2008 | 2 Comments »

An intern brigade (Adrien, Melissa, and I) traveled out to South Austin earlier this month to show Public Citizen support at the San Francisco de Asis Episcopal Church’s ribbon cutting ceremony for their solar panel installation. On top of the good work of this church’s affiliated mission, El Buen Samaritano, which provides health care and [...]

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You so CRE-Z

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged CREZ, PUC, Renewables, solar, wind on July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

So the Public Utility Commission of Texas announced today that they will go with Scenario 2 on CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zone). This explains what’s going on pretty well. CPS Energy looks kind of ridiculous in it. They originally endorsed Scenario 1b (the least amount of transmission to be considered), but last week the Express-News [...]

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Phthalates: Banned in Mexico, OK in Texas?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Congress, consumer product safety commission, consumer protection, Joe Barton, phthalates, Toxics on July 18, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Today’s Dallas Morning News editorializes about banning phthalates, (pronounced THAL-ates), a chemical made from petroleum that makes plastics bendable and has already been banned in Europe, California, Washington, and even Mexico. Among the top products that use phthalates in their plastics? Children’s toys. As a father of two children under the age of 3 whose [...]

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