Senator Troy Fraser, the chair of Senate Natural Resources Committee, warned the major electric generation companies this afternoon that unless they move swiftly to shore up their power plants against extreme weather, they can expect more regulations from state government. Fraser said he would prefer free market solutions, but is prepared to impose new regulations, [...]
Archive for February, 2011
Public Citizen testifies on rolling blackouts in Texas Senate, Fraser threatens re-regulation
Posted in Energy, tagged electric reliability council of texas, public citizen texas, rolling blackouts, Texas, Texas Senate Hearings on February 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Gasland’s Oscar under attack by industry
Posted in Global Warming, tagged Academy Award, gasland, HBO, hydraulic fracturing on February 15, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Industry groups began raising objections to the movie “Gasland” when the documentary first aired on HBO last June. However, they recently stepped up their attacks when Gasland was nominated for an academy award. Energy in Depth, a group representing a coalition of industry groups including the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Assn. and the Texas [...]
Opinion: Combs’ wind energy report lacking facts
Posted in Global Warming, Renewables, tagged Electricity generation, Energy, Renewables, wind, wind power on February 14, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Paul Sadler is the executive director of the Wind Coalition, and a former Texas state legislator. He responds to the recent comptroller report which he believes did not accurately represent the job creation potential of wind energy. If we are to believe a recent report from the comptroller’s office (“An Analysis of Texas Economic Development [...]
Is the electricity market failing Texans
Posted in Energy, tagged deregulation, Electricity market, houston chronicle, rolling blackouts, Texas on February 12, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Loren Steffy, the Houston Chronicle‘s business columnist writes this week about why the lights went out. We are left with an electricity market that has failed at both ends. Leaving our power supply dependent on the whims of that market means that last week probably won’t be the last time it leaves us in the [...]
ERCOT Board to review February 2nd “Event”
Posted in Energy, tagged electric reliability council of texas, rolling blackouts on February 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
ERCOT has moved their regularly scheduled board meeting up from Tuesday to Monday, February 14th to allow for a special 2 hour time to take up a review of February 2, 2011 Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Event.
Senate to hear testimony on February power outages
Posted in Global Warming, tagged hearing, rolling blackouts, Texas, texas senate on February 11, 2011 | 9 Comments »
The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce will convene in a joint hearing with the Senate Committee on Natural Resources at 8:30 a.m. on February 15, 2011, in the Senate Chamber. The purpose of the hearing is to receive updates on the power outages of February 2nd through 4th and to discuss the status, [...]
PUC seeks authority to unilaterally fire an ERCOT CEO
Posted in Energy, tagged electric reliability council of texas, public utility commission, Rolling blackout, Texas on February 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In a Public Utility Commission (PUC) hearing on Thursday, to address what happened to cause the rolling blackouts of Feb. 2, members of the commission accused the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) of ignoring dire energy forecasts, failing to communicate with other important decision makers, and understating the risk of rolling blackouts. As part of [...]
Peak Oil resurfaces with the release of new Wikileaks cables
Posted in Global Warming, tagged Middle East, Oil reserves, Peak oil, Saudi Arabia on February 10, 2011 | 2 Comments »
While not a huge fan of Wikileaks, I find this new release from them to be of interest. We haven’t heard folks talking much about “peak oil” in a while, but a recent Wikileaks release confirmed what many have believed for years, that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves may have been exaggerated by as much as 40%, [...]
Will my rates go up because of last week’s electricity mess?
Posted in Energy, tagged electricity, Energy, public citizen texas, Rolling blackout on February 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Will my rates go up because of last week’s electricity mess? That’s a question that the Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that promotes civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern, asked and their answer starts out: Lots of Texans are asking that question in the [...]
Fact check :( Examining Gov. Rick Perry’s take on the state and its budget by the DMN
Posted in Global Warming, tagged Rick Perry, State of the State address, Texas on February 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Dallas Morning News took a look at Governor Rick Perry‘s State of the State address and folks around the state had some interesting thoughts on the veracity of his statements. Click here to read the story. For those who didn’t watch Governor Rick Perry‘s State of the State address, we have provided the text [...]
Texas Democracy Foundation’s Next Generation Leaders
Posted in Global Warming, tagged andy wilson, Texas, texas observer, trevor lovell on February 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In the evening following a day of rolling blackouts, the Texas Democracy Foundation, publishers of the Texas Observer, identified and introduced to the community a new generation of progressive leaders for Texas. We are proud to announce that our very own Andy Wilson and Trevor Lovell were named to be among this year’s Next Generation Leaders. Click here [...]
Climate change deniers beget climate change deniers
Posted in Global Warming, tagged clean air act, Fred Upton, United States Environmental Protection Agency on February 9, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Michigan’s Fred Upton, who became the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in early January, is a climate change denier, reversing a position he took when he told his home town paper, the River Country Journal, in 1999 that, “Climate change is a serious problem that necessitates serious solutions. Everything must be on [...]
House Committee Assignments for 82nd Legislature
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 82nd legislature, Committees, Texas Legislature on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Well, we’ve waited for these, and here they are, the Committee Chairs for your 82nd Texas Legislature: Agriculture & Livestock: Representative Rick Hardcastle (R-Vernon) Appropriations: Representative Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) Border & Intergovernmental Affairs: Representative Veronica Gonzales (D-McAllen) Business & Industry: Representative Joe Deshotel (D-Beaumont) Calendars: Representative Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) Corrections: Representative Jerry Madden [...]
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