Even Support from Businesses Like IKEA Is Not Enough for PUC
AUSTIN, TX – The Public Utility Commission delivered a slap in the face to the more than 6,000 Texans and 70 businesses and organizations who have actively called on the Commission to implement and expand the non-wind renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The non-wind RPS would establish a market for electricity from solar and other renewable energy resources in Texas, just as the State’s overall RPS did for wind energy. The non-wind RPS was passed into law in 2005, but has yet to be implemented by the PUC.
Democracy and the rule of law may be important tenants of our society, but they are utterly lacking at the PUC, where Commissioners refused to engage in even a single minute of public discussion on the matter before striking it down today.
Instead of gathering current information on the price of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and other renewable energy technologies, the PUC staff recommended denial based on data that is more than two years old. This illustrates a shocking lack of due diligence, given that solar prices have plummeted over the past two years and are now competitive with traditional energy sources, especially when demand is high. David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy, told participants at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, “Solar is so cheap today that unless you tell me that you did a solar analysis yesterday, not last year or last month, then your analysis is out of date.”
The Commission appears to be committed to willful ignorance on this issue, but we’re not giving up. This is too important to the future of our state. The solar industry is going to continue to grow regardless of what the PUC does; it’s just a matter of whether it will grow in Texas and bring good jobs to Texans or if we will let other states and other countries leave us behind.
While misconceptions about the cost of solar energy persist, businesses and individuals who look at current prices have found an opportunity for energy savings by investing in solar. IKEA, a major international retailer, supports implementing and expanding the non-wind RPS in Texas. “While utilizing renewable resources for generating energy allows us to reduce our carbon footprint, it[s] also is good business since it significantly reduces operational costs,” states the company in its comments that they filed with the PUC.
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Hey PUC! …..since you like carbon based energy so much and natural gas has les C02 (but more CH4 leaks), help me talk to the industry to drill right…..I live at ground zero for urban drilling. We have about 60 padsites in our 99 sq mile town here in Arlington TX. The following requests won’t cover public protections on the huge buildout and the associated human errors or accidents. We had a drill spill in Lake Arlington, our drinking source, a couple of years ago and have had maybe a dozen emission events over the last couple of years that I am aware of. The following are the items lacking in our oil and gas drilling ordinance….
1. Use electric (not diesel) rigs in urban areas.
2. Video tape ALL cement casing pours when it comes back up to the top through the annulus so that there is proof of an even pour and ensure all wells have electric bond log tests.
3. All drilling mud farming (private & commercial) and *brine “road spraying” is subject to open records of water & soil test results.
4. We need the industry to invent technology to keep the toxic, silica dust on the padsite-those pathetic pillow case looking socks aren’t getting the job done.
5. Mandate ventless, emission free flowback tanks.
6. We shouldn’t have to wait 2.5 years for the EPA mandated Green Completions and allow venting or flaring in urban or rural areas….methane losses should be prevented-period.
7. The pipeline should be in place FIRST before fracturing so that flowback doesn’t sit in the ground for months festering some unknown, man-made hydrogen sulfide-like stale water flowback.
8. The setback away from people should be substantial. Rural method drilling is not acceptable in urban areas. A doctor who is an environmental tester said that the health effects are being seen downwind from about 1,800 – 2,500 feet.
9. Zero tolerance for underinspected, or faked Waste Disposal Injection Well casing pressure tests which risks eventual migration of toxic fluids into our drinking supplies.
10. State entities overseeing oil and gas should regulate how close the old wells are to new wells.