It’s Monday, and that means it is time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance’s weekly round-up.
At Bluedaze, TXsharon asks: What are the chances that an industry in charge of conducting its own testing to determine waste disposal methods will find toxin levels too high if that means disposal of the waste will be more costly? Landfarms: Spreading Toxic Drilling Waste on Farmland. With VIDEO.
BossKitty at TruthHugger sees lessons never learned … it is NOT about religion, ya’ll! How does it fit that US Military crusader evangelists want to save these souls right before we blow them away. How can we justify putting Mulims on death row, by their own people, just because we convinced them to become APOSTATES?! General Order Number One, Forbid Proselytizing – Evangelists Cannot Protect Murtads – Wars fought using 12th century religious mentality means that civilization has made two steps backwards!
Mean Rachel is reminded on Mother’s Day of children, the lack thereof and why The Pill should be available over the counter.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know how can Rick Perry brag about how well Texas is doing when over 22% of our children face hunger every day?
Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News showed a video from the Texas Freedom Network of our own Texas Department of Miseducation in action.
WhosPlayin covered the Denton County Democrats’ election of a new County Chair, after previous chairman Neil Durrance resigned to run for U.S. Congress in District 26 in 2010. Continue Reading »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ahmed rashid, bay area houston, bluedaze, bosskitty, brains and eggs, bush administration, couldbetrue, Denton, department of education, easter lemming liberal news, eye on williamson, Gene Green, hunger, jim olson, john carter, john coby, left of college station, liberaltexan, mcblogger, mean rachel, mother's day, neil durrance, off the kuff, Pakistan, progressive activists, Rick Perry, south texas chisme, stimulus money, Texas, texas freedom network, texas kaos, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, three wise men, toxic drilling waste, truthhugger, txsharon, unemployment insurance, wcnews, weekly roundup, whosplayin, xanthippas |
This afternoon Waxman and Markey finally formally introduced H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Up to now, they’ve just been circulating an unofficial ‘discussion draft’, but now that we’ve got some actual language (932 pages of it), we’ve got a better idea of the bill’s specifics.
And it looks like some of the specifics are significantly watered down from the original draft, largely thanks to Texas’ own Congressmen Charlie Gonzalez and Gene Green. According to a CongressDaily article, “Waxman To Release Draft Text After Striking Late Deals,”
Eyeing the start of the bill’s markup Monday, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman struck a deal early this morning with Texas Reps. Gene Green and Charles Gonzalez that strips out a low-carbon fuels mandate and hands out credits to petroleum refiners amounting to 2 percent of all emissions under the bill’s cap-and trade-program from 2014-26. The deal might be enough to get Green, Gonzalez and perhaps other oil-patch Democrats on board. Green called the deal “a reasonable first step to protecting our energy infrastructure and keeping good-paying jobs here at home.”
The thrust of the bill, and how it differeniates from the drafts, is as follows:
- 17% emissions cut from 2005 levels by 2020 (instead of 20%)
- giving away 85% of allowances and auctioning just 15%
Unfortunately, this kind of means that no one has to really cut their emissions for 20 years. Which is disappointing, to say the least. You can see how these allowances will allocated here.
The good news is that, though the bill is compromised… we’ve got a real carbon bill introduced! The bad news is… it isn’t nearly strong enough to create the economic revolution we need to really address the carbon crisis. Now, the bill won’t go through markup until early next week, which could mean that there is a chance it could be strengthened… but it is more likely that in order to pass the whole House, it may be weakened even more.
Heavy news for a Friday, I know. It can’t be all good news all the time. We’ll keep you updated on the status of this bill through markup.
Have hope, my friends. It ain’t over til the fat lady sings.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged american clean energy and security act, auction, carbon crisis, Carbon Dioxide, charlie gonzalez, congressdaily, discussion draft, Gene Green, Global Warming, house energy and commerce, hr 2454, Markey, Texas, Waxman |
Check out the following statement from Common Cause railing on the energy industry for exerting undue influence over the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that energy interests gave an average$107,230 in campaign contributions to Energy and Commerce committee members, nearly twice as much than any other member of the House — but I can say that I’m disappointed. When our leaders receive this kind of money from the very industries they’re supposed to regulate, you’ve got to wonder who they’re really working for. Cheers to Common Cause for not pulling any punches.
Statement of Bob Edgar, President of Common Cause, on energy industry influence on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
As the House Committee on Energy and Commerce begins debate on a draft energy bill, an immediate and intense battle over whether this bill can pass in Congress is likely. Energy and climate change issues are high on the minds of the American people and were debated aggressively during the 2008 elections. The public demands action and deserves it.
The energy industry has already been active, though, and the American people similarly deserve to see how the industry – whose profits and future depend on decisions made in Congress, particularly the Energy and Commerce committee – has exerted tremendous influence over this debate already through targeted campaign contributions and massive lobbying expenditures.
A Common Cause analysis revealed that major energy interests contributed more than twice as much to Energy and Commerce committee members’ campaigns, on average, than to other members of Congress. Committee members received an average of $107,230 in campaign cash from the energy sector in the last election, while their non-committee counterparts collected an average of $46,539, a difference of over 130 percent.
The largest player in the energy sector, electric utilities like Southern Company and Duke Energy, had the most pronounced targeting of its campaign contributions. The average Energy and Commerce committee member received $49,495 from electric utility interests alone in the 2008 cycle, while a non-committee member received an average of $18,579, a difference of over 160 percent.
It’s an old adage that money follows power in Washington, but that refrain takes on new meaning – and potentially dangerous consequences – when the wealthy special interests are clearly poised to exert enormous influence over a decision as crucial as how to tackle energy independence, green jobs, and a warming planet. Continue Reading »
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged bod edgar, campaign contributions, center for public integrity, climate change, common cause, duke energy, energy industry, house committee on energy and commerice, southern company, special interests, Texas |
For more information on the Carbon Caps = Hard Hats campaign, check out thecapsolution.org
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged braddock PA, cap solution, carbon cap, green jobs, john fetterman, Texas |
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Dismiss talk of global warming and environmentalism if you must. But times are changing fast and, along with them, the very way we heat and cool our homes and businesses.
The Texas Senate signaled as much this week, approving a bill encouraging development of solar energy plants to generate electricity, much as the state has done in making wind an energy player in Texas and beyond.
Now it’s up to the House and Gov. Rick Perry to show similar vision for Texas.
We hope it isn’t much of a stretch. Sunshine is something we have plenty of in Texas — and we’re unlikely to run out of it anytime soon.
Passage of state Sen. Kirk Watson’s legislation, with help from Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, is remarkable for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the Senate is dominated by Republicans. Watson is a Democrat.
Yet many lawmakers on both sides want to encourage the solar, geothermal and biomass energy aims in this bill. Some see the writing on the wall.
A Texas Public Utility Commission report issued Tuesday concludes that electricity prices could jump as much as $10 billion a year — $27 a month in the average electric bill — if Texans don’t anticipate looming federal greenhouse regulations aimed at cutting carbon-based fuels like natural gas and coal.
Environmentalists and lawmakers see Watson’s bill as neatly bolstering our state’s energy arsenal, especially as Texas continues to grow. Solar could help ensure energy offerings at peak times of the day, while wind will prove of greatest impact during the night hours. Continue Reading »
Posted in Energy, Renewables | Tagged democrat, environmentalism, Global Warming, kip averitt, kirk watson, PUC, republicans, Rick Perry, solar energy, Texas, texas house, texas public utility commission, texas senate, troy fraser, voter id bill, waco tribune |
As we’ve said before, there are a lot of good reasons to support a federal cap and trade bill: it would address the looming threat of global warming, create thousands of new green jobs while kick-starting a the clean energy economy, increase national security by achieving energy independence, and done right could even address long-entrenched social inequalities.
But according to a new ad campaign run by Texas Interfaith Power and Light, a vote for clean energy can also be considered “an act of faith.”
The word, according to their press release:
State religious leaders are calling on U.S. Congressman Charles Gonzalez to show leadership on clean energy legislation that Congress is set to mark up starting Thursday. With calls to Congressman Gonzalez and a San Antonio Express-News ad in his district, Texas Interfaith Power & Light is voicing the faith perspective people of faith bring to the debate over the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.
“Texans of faith know that the care for creation and loving our neighbors go hand in hand,” the ad says, asking Congressman Gonzalez to take action on the volatile fuel prices, pollution and global warming that harm “the most vulnerable among us, particularly the poor, the elderly, minorities, and the farmers who provide food for our families.”
Kudos to Texas Interfaith Power and Light for stepping up to the plate. The greater the diversity of voices weighing in on this issue the more politicians will see that a climate change bill has far-reaching support across the population, and that there will be significant political consequences to inaction.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged cap and trade, charlie gonzalez, Clean Energy, energy independence, Global Warming, green jobs, national security, religious leaders, san antonio express news, Texas, texas interfaith power and light |
Yesterday afternoon the Texas Senate passed through SB 541, a bill authored by Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) to create a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. If passed through the House, SB 541 would put Texas on course to have 1500 MW of renewable energy from non-wind sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass.
If you follow us on Twitter, of course this is old news to you. Public Citizen Texas has been using our Twitter feed to keep folks updated on breaking legislative news and votes, as well as to share interesting news articles and blog posts. Check it out:
If this sounds appealing to you, why not give us a follow? We promise not to tweet your ear off.
Thanks to Senator Watson’s SB 541, Texas could become a national leader in solar energy just as are in the wind industry. Along with Senator Fraser’s 545, which will provide $500 million in solar incentives over the next 5 years, SB 541 will ensure that incentives are provided for both the large, utility scale solar and small-scale distributed solar that Texas needs.
While we would have preferred a larger renewable portfolio standard, Public Citizen is delighted that this bill has passed the Texas Senate. This is a major step forward for Texans that will create tens of thousands of new clean green jobs within the state and lead to lower electric bills by hedging against the price of natural gas.
Hopefully the Texas House will see the light on solar power and pass an even stronger set of renewable energy goals that will make the grass grow greener, our air cleaner, and the green economy stronger.
Posted in Energy, Renewables | Tagged biomass, Clean Energy, distributed solar, geothermal, public citizen texas, renewable energy, renewable portfolio standard, sb 541, senator watson, solar, Texas, texas house, texas senate, Twitter, utility scale solar |
Kudos and many thanks to San Antonio’s outgoing Mayor Hardberger and council members Justin Rodriguez, Jennifer Ramos, Lourdes Galvan, and Phillip Cortez for signing on to a letter urging Congressman Charlie Gonzalez to get with the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act program.
The letter reads:
We have an unprecedented opportunity to put San Antonians to work in new green jobs — building wind turbines, installing solar panels, weatherizing homes, and laying a smarter electric grid that will power our new energy economy. We also believe it is of the utmost important that we rescue our children, our grandchildren, and the world they’ll inherit from the ravages of global warming.
According to Greg Harman at the San Antonio Current’s QueQue blog,
The cadre adds the weight of local elected leadership to an ongoing campaign working to ensure San Antonio’s representative in Congress (serving on the influential House Committee on Energy & Commerce) pushes for binding commitments to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions quickly while transitioning the economy into a more sustainable direction.
Hopefully Charlie is feeling the pressure and will back away from the polluter giveaways he’s been flirting with as of late. That’s because, everybody with me now, Giving Away Allowances is a Terrible Way to Write This Bill. EPA’s most recent analysis says that giving away pollution credits is “highly regressive”, meaning it hurts low-income families the most. At best, this is a bailout and a free ride for the polluters. At worst it will create windfall profits for huge energy companies at the expense of every lower and middle income family in Texas.
Just listen to that broken record spin. No shame here, I’ll say it as many times as it takes for it sink in.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged charlie gonzalez, EPA, jennifer ramos, justin rodriguez, lourdes galvan, phillip cortez, polluter giveaways, San Antonio, san antonio current, smart grid, solar panels, Texas, waxman-markey, Weatherization, wind turbines |
Hey hey, looks like ReEnergize Texas was featured in a recent article on the New York Times’ Green, Inc blog. Check it out:
By Kate Galbraith
College students often protest when administrators threaten to raise their fees.
But rising numbers of students seem willing to self-impose a “green” fee, to help the environment and purchase renewable energy. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education posts a list of universities that have such fees, which generally hover around $3 to $5 a semester but have increased to $40 a term in the case of Northland College in Wisconsin.
Portland State University is currently voting on whether to establish this kind of fee.
In some states like Florida and Texas, students at public universities have been foiled in their efforts to impose green fees. That is because any fee increase must be approved by the state legislature. The back-and-forth process can easily take four years, according to Trevor Lovell of ReEnergize Texas, a youth coalition pushing for measures to address climate change — by which time the student body will have (hopefully) turned over.
A bill backed by ReEnergize Texas is working its way through the Texas state legislature that would allow university students to impose green fees more easily.
A similar bill in Florida just failed.
“The economic woes of our country coupled with an increase to tuition for state universities, made the members hesitant to enact any more new fees this session,” said Zachary Keith, who coordinated the green-fee effort in Florida, in an e-mail message.
He vowed to try again in the next legislative session, and noted that referendums at big Florida universities have shown solid support.
Texas is trying to avoid Florida’s legislative fate. Amanda Grosgebauer, who has chaired the environmental issues committee at Texas A&M, wrote a letter to the legislature stating that in March, 76 percent of students at her university had favored increased environmental services. “That is more student support for one issue than in the history of the University,” Ms. Grosgebauer wrote, in a letter provided by ReEnergize Texas.
“In the past our efforts have hit against a wall of political preferences — environmental issues are seen as a leftist, radical or an unreasonable luxury,” Ms. Grosgebauer continued. “We are tired of hearing that excuse.”
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged college students, green, inc, New York Times, reenergize texas, Texas |
SustainLane, an on-line “people powered sustainability guide”, recently wrote an in-depth profile piece on Public Citizen’s own Tom “Smitty” Smith. For an excellent glimpse of the man behind the machine, our very own white-hat-wearing fearless leader and official “American Changemaker,” check out the following:
‘Smitty’ Wrangles Texans for Environmental Battles
by Amy Linn, SustainLane Staff
Tom “Smitty” Smith is one of the leading lights in the environmental movement, in his home state of Texas and beyond.
A large part of wisdom is awareness; another is putting awareness to good use. Taking both those skills—and using them to win countless battles for people and the planet—has made veteran activist Tom “Smitty” Smith one of the leading lights in the environmental movement, in his home state of Texas and beyond.
For 24 years, Tom “Smitty” Smith has been the Texas director of Public Citizen, a consumer and environmental watchdog group that weighs in on nearly every eco-issue, whether it’s fighting the construction of new coal-fired power plants (an ongoing struggle), pushing for renewable energy (one of the group’s major success stories), or combating global warming. Name a progressive battle in Texas, and Smith’s been there, won that.
It’s a path he says he was primed for by his childhood amid the farm belt of Champaign, Ill. In his 20s—before the word “green” meant anything but a color—Smith fought for anti-pollution laws; after graduating college, he stayed on the eco front lines.
What sparked his interest in this tough (and, on bad days, Sisyphusian) line of work?
“My parents,” he says, without hesitation. “When I was a kid we went for walks every Sunday. And they taught me how wonderful nature was, and how little damage it took to the balance of our ecological system to turn a pure little stream into a muddy slough. And they taught me about the impact of pesticides on birds and animals.” Continue Reading »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged american changemaker, campaigns for people, Clean Water Action, environmental hero, gary, Global Warming, greenhouse gasses, greenwashing, indiana, nuclear plants, power plants, public citizen texas, sustainlane, texans for public justice, Texas, texas ratepayer's organization to save energy, Tom "Smitty" Smith, valparaiso university |
Check it out! Texas Vox is now a proud member of the Texas Progressive Alliance, a group of bloggers, blogs, and Netroots activists. We demand to be taken seriously (and occasionally dance around to The Final Countdown with knives in our teeth).
Our membership also means that you can look forward to Weekly Round-Up of tasty posts from Alliance members. Here’s round one:
The city of DISH, TX is one of several municipalities that have already adopted a resolution calling for the repeal of Big Oil’s exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act. TXsharon gives DISH a high-five and hopes your group, organization, club, city or county will do the same, at at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad the internets have Texas Progressive Alliance! The Republicans have their house of cards and a crazy base.
BossKitty at TruthHugger sees danger in the watered down, dumbed down attempt to educate students by committee. Sanitized History, Truth or Consequences is an example of why education needs serious attention.
Houston political reporter Jane Ely passed away this week. PDiddie collected some recollections of her life at Brains and Eggs.
WhosPlayin was totally absorbed in the municipal elections in Lewisville, and was glad to see conservative radio talk host Winston Edmondson soundly defeated by 30 points in his bid to turn Lewisville into the next Farmers Branch.
Is it a good idea to give TXDOT it’s own taxpayer funded investment bank? Yeah, McBlogger doesn’t think so, either.
Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker thinks it is time to reconsider moral absolutism in politics. He talks about how Obama made progress on this issue nationally and how his tatics may apply in Texas. Check out his posting: Moral Absolutism and Politics – What Obama’s Victory Has to Say to Texas Progressives
Off the Kuff takes a look at the latest polls in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson has a wrap-up of the action taken on the TxDOT Sunset bill in the House last week, CDA/PPPís kicked to House Transportation Committee.
Neil at Texas Liberal writes that using Twitter in politics may well have the effect of further isolating a narrow elite from the larger mass of folks.
Vince at Capitol Annex discusses the rightwing’s email lobbying campaign against legislation that would have subjected the State Board of Education to Sunset review provisions.
Teddy (aka LiberalTexan) at Left of College Station was back after a month long hiatus and blogging as one of the newest members of the Texas Progressive Alliance. This week Left of College Station covered the Bryan City Council Election (despite being uncontested), and the College Station City Council election campaign for Place 4 and Place 6.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged bloggers, blue daze, brains and eggs, Capitol Annex, drilling reform, fort worth, gob, left of college station, mcblogger, Netroots, south texas chisme, Texas, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, texas vox, texaskaos, the alliance of magicians, the final countdown, truthhugger, txsharon, wcnews, whosplayin |
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged ACES, american clean energy and security act, climate change, congressman gonzalez, Gene Green, houston, patricia gonzalez, San Antonio, Texas, wcvi, william c velasquez institute, willie velasguez institute |
Thanks to Luke Metzger at the Environment Texas blog for this take on pending net metering legislation (read: making sure folks with solar panels get paid back for the excess energy they produce):
On Monday, the Texas House will decide whether to promote solar energy by requiring utilities to pay consumers fair prices for surplus solar power or to codify anti-consumer practices in order to benefit big utilities like TXU. Here’s the story.
Sick of riding the rollercoaster of high electric rates and concerned over pollution and dependence on foreign oil, many Texans are turning to solar power to get more choices than their electric company provides. More than 40 states help consumers do this by requiring electric companies to pay a fair price for the surplus electricity solar panels put back on the grid (known as net metering). In return, the electric grid benefits from a supply of pollution-free electricity during peak-demand time periods, such as hot summer afternoons, avoiding congestion costs and dampening real-time on-peak wholesale energy prices. The more renewable generation that is located at customer’s houses and businesses, the less will need to be charged in the future to all customers’ electric bills for wires, fuel and pollution costs. Incentivizing solar will also help create jobs and attract manufacturers to the state.
In addition to consumer rebates and tax credits, net metering is a key financial driver making solar power a cost-effective investment for consumers. Texas had such a policy in place in the 1980s, but with the restructuring of the electric market, old definitions of electric utilities no longer applied and net metering was inadvertently ended. Continue Reading »
Posted in Energy, Renewables | Tagged buy back rates, electric rates, environment texas, foreign oil, gallego, house state affairs committee, lubbock, luke metzger, net metering, pollution, public utilities commission of texas, PUCT, shallowater high school, solar energy, solar panels, solar power, solomons, Texas, texas house, Texas Legislature, texas senate, TXU |
Time for a Friday wrap-up, all the news that’s fit to link:
The Cost of Climate Inaction, Op-Ed in the Washington Post
An Affordable Salvation, New York Times Op-Ed about the benefits of cap and trade
Carbon Offsets in Waxman-Markey Bill, An Overview, Carbonfund.org Blog
Maryland Passes Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, SustainableBusiness.com News
Cap and trade won’t push heavy industries overseas — study, The New York Times
Net metering: The civil rights movement for solar energy, Photovoltaics World
Who gets tough against companies polluting Texas? Hint: It’s not the state, Houston Chronicle
Utah takes nuclear waste from states with own dump, Houston Chronicle (A glimpse of what could happen in Texas if the Andrews Waste Dump goes through)
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear | Tagged andrews waste dump, cap and trade, carbon offsets, carbonfund, climate change, costs of inaction, greenhouse gasses, houston chronicle, mayland, net metering, New York Times, nuclear waste, nuclear waste dump, photovoltaics world, Texas, Washington Post, waxman-markey |
You don’t call, you don’t write… yes, ladies and gentlemen, its that time of year. This Sunday is Mother’s Day — Don’t Forget!
In fact, while you’re thinking about it, why not send Mom an e-card that keeps Mother Earth in mind, courtesy of Carbonfund.org.
Save the paper from sending a real card, give Mom a grin… what’ve you got to lose?
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged carbonfund, e-card, ladies and gentlemen, mother earth, mother's day, renewable enregy, Texas |
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