Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, green jobs, Renewables, tagged climate change, Global Warming, nation, Netroots, Public Citizen, Texas, wrap up on July 30, 2010 |
Check out our final vlog on our visit to Las Vegas and Netroots Nation!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxH4TNl6NV4]
[vimeo 13744992]
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We arePublic Citizen Texas.
Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, tagged arizona, Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, public citizen texas, PUC, Texas on July 29, 2010 |
Phoenix, AZ – Today, the Arizona Corporation Commission acted to save consumers and businesses money by unanimously approving a final Energy Efficiency Standard Rule.
“There was strong support from all five commissioners to significantly increase Arizona’s commitment to energy efficiency via this landmark new standard,” said Jeff Schlegel with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). “Arizona’s utility customers benefit from this standard as they will have better access to energy efficiency measures that will reduce energy consumption and lower their utility bills. Consumers and businesses will save billions of dollars in lower energy costs.”
The Energy Efficiency Standard established in the Rule will achieve 22 percent energy savings in 2020 as a percent of retail sales from energy efficiency, with a credit of up to 2 percent for demand response. This will put in place one of the strongest energy efficiency standards in the country.
“The energy efficiency rule is a big step forward in decreasing energy use and reliance on polluting sources of energy,” said Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club. “This will mean less air pollution, decreased water use, fewer emissions that contribute to climate change, and a more sustainable future for all Arizonans.”
Reduced power generation associated with energy efficiency measures will result in a decrease of a number of pollutants including carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and other pollutants. This will reduce the public health impacts related to emissions of particulate matter and mercury, and also reduce our contribution to global climate change.
The energy efficiency measures that are contemplated by the rule must be cost effective and will result in saving ratepayers money by lowering their overall bills for electricity.
“Energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective resources around and is much less costly than constructing and operating new power plants,” said David Berry with Western Resource Advocates.
“The Commission deserves credit for doing their part to help a struggling economy. A strong energy efficiency standard is a win-win-win policy: ratepayers save money on their monthly electric bills; children, seniors and those with weak immune systems enjoy better health; and Arizonans continue to receive improved air quality,” stated Diane E. Brown, Executive Director of the Arizona PIRG Education Fund.
Well, somebody’s got their heads on straight. Arizona gets it– why not Texas? A little disheartening when you have the PUC deciding efficiency rules tomorrow and groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation poo-pooing energy efficiency (they think we should build nukes! Amazing! Nuclear energy is like conservative “think” tank kryptonite– they HATE government subsidies and bailouts until it comes to nukes. Then they just can’t get enough of them.)
So, final word: Efficiency = lower bills, less pollution. Building more non-renewables power plants = high bills, more pollution. In this case, is this Arizona = good, Texas = needs to catch up to Arizona?
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Efficiency, Energy, natural gas, Nuclear, Renewables, solar, tagged Air Quality, Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Nuclear, renewable energy, Texas on July 22, 2010 |
Headlining the event is Dallas native Ray Johnston with the Ray Johnston Band, a groovy, rock soul act with plenty of attitude. Rounding out the event are Los Pistoleros de Texas, bluesman Mrs. Glass, and country western singer songwriter Robert Ellis.
Expect keynote speaker State Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston to give a rip-roaring speech, flanked by the impassioned Ana Hernandez, three term representative from district 143 of Houston.
About a dozen Houston-based artists are expected to showcase, including Lizbeth Ortiz, who created this piece, “Nurturing Hands”.
There will be a Kids’ Corner and plenty of political activism.
Check them out at www.cleanuptexasnow.org
Hope to see ya’ll there!
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, solar, tagged ana hernandez, discovery green, houston, Lizbeth Ortiz, Los Pistoleros de Texas, Mrs. Glass, Nurturing Hands, Public Citizen, Ray Johnston Band, Robert Ellis, Rodney Ellis, Sierra Club, Texas on July 20, 2010 |
The Great Texas Clean-Up Festival is coming to Houston!
The Sierra Club and Texas Environmental Justice are rolling out the Great Texas Clean-Up Festival, from 4-10 at the Discovery Green in Houston, an event expected to kick off a larger campaign to clean up Texas. Public Citizen is a coalition partner and will be there! Check out our booth!
Headlining the event is Dallas native Ray Johnston with the Ray Johnston Band, a groovy, rock soul act with plenty of attitude. Rounding out the event are Los Pistoleros de Texas, bluesman Mrs. Glass, and country western singer songwriter Robert Ellis.
Expect keynote speaker State Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston to give a rip-roaring speech, flanked by the impassioned Ana Hernandez, three term representative from district 143 of Houston.
About a dozen Houston-based artists are expected to showcase, including Lizbeth Ortiz, who created this piece, “Nurturing Hands”.
There will be a Kids’ Corner [possibly spelled Kidz Korner, at presstime we weren’t sure] and plenty of political activism.
Check them out at www.cleanuptexasnow.org
Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, tagged Air Quality, Clean Energy, Coal, coal plant, Texas on July 13, 2010 |
The Great Texas Cleanup: Outdoor Art & Music Festival
July 24th in Houston at Discovery Green
On July 24th, the Sierra Club and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Service (TEJAS) will host The Great Texas Cleanup: A Rally & Concert for Clean Energy and Clean Air. Environmental and community groups from Houston, Texas and around the country will join local, state, and national businesses in taking a stand to cleanup Texas now!
The concert is FREE to the public and welcomes all ages.
Local musicians will play an eclectic variety of music that will unite youth, students, young professionals, families, and different communities in the fight for a future we all share. Community leaders and distinguished speakers will talk about urgent issues that have culminated into our best opportunity to cleanup Texas now. Artists, businesses, and local nonprofits will share with you what they are doing to help and how you can get involved!
Hope to see ya’ll there! CleanupTexasNow.org
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Coal, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, natural gas, Renewables, solar, TCEQ, tagged Air Quality, cap and trade, drilling, drilling moratorium, EPA, TCEQ, Texas on July 7, 2010 |
It is frustrating that our local and federal governments are strained from taking action to ameliorate our air and water quality because once they try to do so, the other side recites loss in jobs as the result– but never do they mention any public health concerns and the effect that has on the economy. (more…)
Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, tagged American Power Act, APA, CBO, CBO score, climate bill, climate change, Coal, deficit, Global Warming, public citizen texas, Texas on July 7, 2010 |
A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO
) says the climate & energy bill currently stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next ten years. The CBO is responsible for providing Congress with nonpartisan analyses of economic and budget issues, and lawmakers rely on it for guidance. This is the second positive analysis of the bill by a government agency in a month. A similar report was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in June.
Many senators have said they flatly oppose legislation that adds even a penny to the federal deficit, and these two reports should force them to look anew at this initiative which will actually reduce it.
In its report Wednesday, the CBO said the energy bill would increase federal revenues by about $751 billion from 2011 to 2020, mostly though the sale of carbon credits in a cap-and-trade plan to be applied to utilities and other sectors of the economy. (more…)
Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, green jobs, tagged anthropogenic, britain, climategate, controversy, denial, denier, Global Warming, house of commons, man made, panel, phil jones, Texas, university of east anglia on July 7, 2010 |
Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) deniers went crazy a few months ago with an email controversy involving the University of East Anglia in Britain. Joining an earlier finding by the House of Commons, a British panel has just issued a sweeping exoneration of all scientists involved. Climatologist Phil Jones was immediately reinstated in his position at the research unit (he had “stepped aside” during the investigation proceedings). Check out the New York Times for more info.
AGW deniers will likely spin this any number of different ways, probably including something along the lines of “the entire British government is simply in on this vast, global conspiracy of man-made global warming!” Why? Because the hysteria over AGW denialism is not based on science and facts – it is based on preconceived world views , propaganda and self-interests.
The truth has always been, and remains, that the overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree AGW is real and likely one of the greatest threats mankind has ever faced. There is a vast amount of scientific research and study from many different fields of science that confirm AGW, and no evidence coming out of the scientific community that anything else could account for the changes we are seeing in our climate.
This war against science is led by large fossil-fuel corporations and their sponsored think-tanks who want to defer their accountability and responsibilities for as long as possible. In light of the BP Gulf spill the time has finally come when all people on this planet, even staunch, right-wing Americans, need to join in solidarity and move our country and our planet away from a fossil-fuel reliant economy and forward into an energy future based on renewable energy and social justice.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, Renewables, tagged activist, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, climate change, Coal, Glick, Global Warming, green jobs, hart senate, Public Citizen, sentence, sentenced, Ted Glick, Texas on July 6, 2010 |
Ted Glick, policy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was just sentenced for his demonstration on September 8.
I am on one year’s probation, I need to pay an $1100 fine, I need to do 40 hours of community service in D.C. and if I’m arrested over the next year I automatically go to jail for 30 days on each of the two misdemeanor counts I was convicted of.
What was Ted’s heinous crime? He hung two banners saying “Green Jobs Now” and “Get to Work” in the Hart Senate Office Building. (more…)
Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, tagged Air Quality, climate change, Coal, coal fired power plant, EPA, NAAQS, Texas on July 6, 2010 |
In a breaking story from the AP, we learn that the air pollution rules first proposed under George W. Bush’s EPA are 
moving forward.
The Environmental Protection Agency said the new rules would cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 71 percent from 2005 levels by 2014 and nitrogen oxide emissions by 52 percent in the same time frame.
The regulation, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, requires 31 states from Massachusetts to Texas to reduce emissions that contribute to smog and soot and can travel long distances in the wind. The agency predicted the rule would prevent about 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths a year.
The rule would overturn and toughen rules issued during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
What happened was the Bush Administration took a look at the scientific reviews for where the levels of these pollutants should be to protect health. When they published their new air quality standards, they were actually less strong than the science required.
And while legal wrangling is fun, the real story here is the impact on human health.
“We’re working to limit pollution at its source, rather than waiting for it to move across the country,” Jackson said in a statement.
The proposed reductions should save billions of dollars in avoided health costs and sick days and save thousands of lives each year, Jackson said. Those benefits would far outweigh the estimated $2.8 annual cost of compliance, she said.
Reducing pollution from power plants means fewer sick kids who have to miss school, it means fewer people who have to be rushed to the ER for an asthma treatment, and even means fewer deaths. And, of course, reducing these emissions most likely also means a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, another added benefit we can all be happy about.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas
Posted in Energy, Good Government, tagged Austin Energy, climate change, coal plant, Energy Efficiency, Global Warming, Texas on July 1, 2010 |
After a several hour closed-door meeting between the two remaining candidates for Austin Energy’s General Manager position and some of Austin’s best environmental, energy, and consumer advocates, all of the groups represented came to the same conclusion: neither of these candidates was a right fit for Austin.
In fact, former City Councilwoman Brigid Shea told reporters that “Mr. Wright is wrong for Austin” and that they had hoped our nationwide search would produce “major league” candidates to fit with Austin’s leadership on energy and community issues. “No offense, but these guys are more minor league.”
You can see the entire video here of their press conference, led by Public Citizen representative Cary Ferchill:
YouTube:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcXDk-fXEYk]
Vimeo:
[vimeo 13016093]
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas
Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, TCEQ, tagged Coal, corpus christi, fail, hearing, judge, judges, las brisas, meeting, pet-coke, Petcoke, petroleum, pollution, Public Citizen, remand, soah, state office of administrative hearings, TCEQ, Texas on June 30, 2010 |
The TCEQ ruled today on the air permit for the proposed Las Brisas pet-coke plant in Corpus Christi. The good news is they didn’t grant the permit (yet), instead they remanded the permit back to the State Office of Administrative Hearings on a number of issues. However, they refused to acknowledge some of the most important aspects and requirements of the process (like a case-by-case analysis of the hazardous air pollutants) and practically ignored the recommendations of the administrative law judges and even their own staff – who have all recommended that this permit be denied.
TCEQ should have sent Las Brisas packing – they should have outright denied this joke of a permit, or at the least made them restart the permitting process from square one. Instead we have the same old story from TCEQ. They have shown once more that their primary interest is to allow industries to pollute irresponsibly and not, as it should be, to protect the people and environment of Texas from unnecessary pollution.
The video below is of the press conference held yesterday, which also talked about revisions to water quality standards – another mistake TCEQ is in the process of making. Visit Sierra Club’s website for more on that. Stay tuned to Texas Vox for more info on the Las Brisas case – the video footage of today’s proceedings will be up by tomorrow and will include responses from the protestants in the case including locals from Corpus Christi.
[vimeo 12988286]
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas
Posted in Energy, Good Government, TCEQ, Toxics, tagged ACT, asthma, clean air act, Dr. Al Armendariz, EPA, flex permits, TCEQ, Texas, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission on June 30, 2010 |
The EPA announced today that Texas’s much-discussed and derided flex permitting program does not follow the federal Clean Air Act (big surprise </sarcasm>). This was an action that began when the EPA under George W. Bush called into question the transparency and efficacy of the program which allows big polluters to skirt the federal Clean Air Act. From their press release:
EPA is disapproving the permit program after determining that it allows companies to avoid certain federal clean air requirements by lumping emissions from multiple units under a single “cap” rather than setting specific emission limits for individual pollution sources at their plants.
“Today’s action improves our ability to provide the citizens of Texas with the same healthy-air protections that are provided for citizens in all other states under the Clean Air Act.,” said Al Armendariz, Regional Administrator. “EPA will continue working closely with Texas, industry, environmental organizations, and community leaders to assure an effective and legal air permitting system.”
We’re chiming in on this, with a joint press release from the Alliance for Clean Texas (ACT), where you can go to read the full press release. Here’s the highlights: (more…)
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Transportation, tagged canada, deis, draft environmental impact statement, Global Warming, hearings, meeting, oil, pipeline, state department, Tar Sands, tarsands, Texas on June 29, 2010 |
TransCanada, a pipeline company out of Canada, wants to build a pipeline to bring the dirtiest kind of oil in the world from tar sands mines in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Houston and Beaumont. This oil is many times dirtier than conventional crude and allowing Houston area refineries to process it would increase air pollution throughout the region. The tar sands mines in Alberta are devastating the Boreal forest ecosystem, laying waste to a region the size of Florida and poisoning the people who live downstream. The first permit this pipeline needs is the Presidential Permit, which goes through the State Department. The comment period on this project is open until July 2 – to submit comments online go here. For more information on tar sands oil visit dirtyoilsands.org and to stay updated on tar sands news in Texas keep coming back here to Texas Vox, and visit our main webpage on tar sands here. (more…)
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, natural gas, Renewables, solar, tagged air pollution, Air Quality, documentary, drinking water, faucet on fire, fracking, gasland, HBO, HBO Documentaries, josh fox, Larry King, Larry King Live, natural gas drilling, oil and gas wells, pipe explosion, rig explosion, T. Boone Pickens, Texas, water, water on fire, Water Pollution, Water Quality on June 23, 2010 |
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtpSgqUZ3oA]
A few days ago, Larry King interviewed T. Boone Pickens and if you were watching it, you heard him condemn the spill and the US dependence on oil then he raved about natural gas and how safe it is to drill for it.
Pickens is not the first. Many have claimed that natural gas is better, safer, and cheaper. Simply, that is not the case. I have written about a couple of natural gas blow outs and pipe fractures in Texas this month alone but this documentary examines several other elements of natural gas impact than just rigs blowing up.
Yesterday, HBO aired a documentary that is both eye-opening and disturbing. It is called GasLand, in which Josh Fox, the director travels across the United States to explore the damage and contamination that has resulted from drilling for natural gas. In the documentary, Fox points out the different impacts of natural gas; on our drinking water, the air we breathe, and the nature that surrounds us. If the pictures of evaporating water mixed gas into the air to get rid of the waste (process done by gas-drilling facilities) won’t tell how bad natural gas is, then I am pretty sure watching people lighting their contaminated faucet water on fire will.
Fox collects water samples from homes with contaminated water and sends them to a lab for examination. I will leave it to you to watch his outrageous findings in the documentary.
In case you missed it, Josh Fox’s GasLand will be airing on HBO at the following (central) times:
Thursday, June 24: 12:00PM
Thursday, June 24: 11:30PM
Saturday, June 26: 11:00AM
Wednesday, June 30: 08:45AM
For more information, visit the HBO schedule page or the webpage for GasLand.
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