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Archive for August, 2011

Groups use social networking as a response to corporate influence over our political process

Posted in Good Government, tagged on August 11, 2011 | 1 Comment »

 The Day When $$$$ Equals Speech The American public has become increasingly frustrated and angry about the corporate corruption of Congress. With the influence over politics wielded by wealthy corporate interests through their political spending, even modest efforts to curb pollution, ensure clean water and safe food, secure our financial system and more are stymied. [...]

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Heat Wave Renews Call for Renewable Energy

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , on August 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

At the height of the energy crisis last week, Public Citizen’s Texas director, Tom “Smitty” Smith, told the Austin Chronicle, “Austin Energy was one of the first cities in the United States to really aggressively try to do this kind of load management, and days like this show how effective it is in preventing blackouts,” [...]

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Big Hot Texas Sun: Problem or Resource?

Posted in Climate Change, Co-op Reform, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, solar on August 11, 2011 | 3 Comments »

We’re in the midst of a heat wave and drought that are on record to be Texas’ worst in recorded history. (and now imagine if global warming actually kicked in, the way all those scientists say! *wink*) But we have a few options. Cope, adapt, or conquer. I much prefer the last solution to the [...]

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2010 PAC Spending Jumps 12 Percent

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged , on August 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to a new report by Texans for Public Justice (TPJ), a record 1,302 active Texas political action committees (PACs) spent $133 million in the two-year 2010 election cycle, a 12 percent increase from the 2008 cycle.  Over the past decade Texas PACs increased their spending nearly three-fold and the number of active PACs grew [...]

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If it started raining today, how much would we need to end this drought?

Posted in Climate Change, Efficiency, Global Warming, tagged , , , on August 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Texas is suffering from an historic drought and one question that looms large is – how much rain will we need to actually end the drought?  And the answer is -  A LOT! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates 12 to 15+ inches of rain (shades of purple and dark blue) is necessary [...]

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With a little help from the wind, ERCOT is holding power emergencies at bay

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on August 9, 2011 | 5 Comments »

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is expecting to keep rolling blackouts at bay this week.  While we came perilously close to having statewide rolling blackouts last week, it turns out, coastal wind power proved helpful in averting an electric crisis then, according to ERCOT’s president. Unlike wind farms in West Texas, which tend [...]

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West Texas – The new radioactive waste frontier

Posted in Nuclear, Radioactive Waste, tagged , , , , on August 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to the Fox news station in Salt Lake City, UT, controversy has arisen about EnergySolutions’ plans to dispose of what they call blended radioactive waste at its Clive Facility in the west desert of Utah. There are three classifications of waste: A, B and C, all radioactive. Only the lowest level, type A, is [...]

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Texas League of Conservation Voters 2011 Legislative Scorecard

Posted in Good Government, tagged , , on August 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

During the Legislative Session, the Texas League of Conservation Voters was at the capitol advancing an environmental  conservation agenda on behalf of Texas Voters.   They have now released their 2011 TLCV scorecard which covers a range of votes and issues, including: renewable energy, green technologies, recycling and waste disposal.  Each vote scored presented a clear [...]

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How long can we endure this drought – wait, it looks like at least another year

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The Climate Prediction Center says there is now a 50/50 chance of a return to La Nina conditions this fall. La Nina is an expansive area of cooler-than-normal water in the Pacific Ocean. This cooling alters weather patterns across the U.S., and almost always results in drier than normal conditions for Texas and most of [...]

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Deregulation has put Texas energy security at risk.

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , , on August 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »

The PUC wants to have a meeting at the end of August to try to figure out how to fix Texas’s experiment of a deregulated generation market, as we look like we are going to run out of energy during what could be ever increasing hot summers. It seems the current market based behavior doesn’t [...]

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Shut off unnessary equipment before ERCOT is forced to shut off power

Posted in Energy, tagged , , , , on August 5, 2011 | 3 Comments »

As temperatures soared yesterday, ERCOT estimates that electricity usage reached an all-time peak high (breaking Wednesday’s record) with Texans using 60,157 MW of power – flying past the official record set on August 31, 2000 when 57,606 MW of power was consumed by Texans in the ERCOT service region. “Texas is experiencing a very serious energy [...]

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Temperatures in Texas soar — and so do energy prices

Posted in Energy, tagged , , , on August 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

This is a reprint of a post by Jake Dyer from the RechargeTexas.com blog The rolling blackouts that swept through Texas last February have been blamed on the unexpected failure of generation plants. The temperature dropped during a cold snap, the plants froze up, and then — before anybody really knew what hit them — [...]

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LCRA cancels board meeting with the White Stallion Energy Center water contract on the agenda.

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , on August 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

August 10 LCRA Board meeting canceled after White Stallion water contract pulled from agenda Discussion and possible action by the LCRA Board of Directors on a contract to provide water to a proposed new coal plant in Matagorda County has been postponed indefinitely. This decision comes after the company proposing the plant substantially changed the [...]

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STP, the nuclear expansion project that just won’t die

Posted in Nuclear, Nuclear Plants, tagged , , , on August 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Despite the fact that NRG/Toshiba (formally know together as NINA) has been unsuccessful in their multi-year efforts to expand by two units, the South Texas “Nuclear” Project (STP) – the process for their Combined License (COL) is proceeding.  An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel will hear oral argument and conduct an evidentiary hearing, [...]

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Rolling Blackouts – are we close?

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on August 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »

ERCOT announced a yellow alert at 3:15 today when they smashed through the state electric use record by over 2,000 MW.  With only 1800 MW of reserve available around 4:30, we are periously close to triggering rolling blackouts.  With no end in sight for this excessive heat wave, it is imperative that Texans severely curtail [...]

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