With blue lips and chattering teeth, the Texas Progressive Alliance brings you a hot steaming mug of blog highlights for the week.
This week on Left of College Station: the filling deadline has ended and the primaries in the Brazos Valley are crowded with candidates. Also, a look at who tweets among the primary candidates for Texas Congressional District 17 and which does not want Left of College Station to follow their tweets. Teddy also takes a look at the modern day slavery of human trafficking, and how Houston has become one of the biggest hubs for the modern day slave trade. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the Texas GOP’s inability to govern and the opportunities that provides for Democrats, GOP divisions can bring Democratic gains in Texas.
The Denton County candidates are ready to go at the Texas Cloverleaf.
How does Texas compare with other states? A statistical analysis with graphs reveals the truth at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
Off the Kuff has a modest suggestion for how to handle Harris County’s current budget shortfall.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme agrees it’s time to put our money in community banks.
Thinking and acting both locally and globally, Neil at Texas Liberal sent membership donations to both Greenpeace and the Democratic Women of Denton County.
After a noted anti-gay and Republican activist filed to run as a Democrat against an unchallenged incumbent GOP county commissioner, investigation determined that the man used the wrong address and was disqualified from the ballot. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has more on the story.
Bay Area Houston nominates Dave Wilson for the “Dripping with Hypocrisy” award with One Man. No Woman.
WhosPlayin has the story of a public servant who manages a $13 million facility, where he works for the taxpayer by day, and for the private club that rents the facility at night.
McBlogger sees some problems with Sen. Hutchison’s ad taking on 39% and some of the people making excuses for 39%.
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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 Uncategorized | Tagged bay area houston, brains and eggs, brazos valley, college station, democratic women of denton county, denton county, eye on williamson, gas drilling, greenpeace, harris county, human trafficking, south texas chisme, Texas, texas congressional district 7, texas progressive alliance, williamson county |
The full documentary Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars about the fight against the TXU coal rush in Texas is now online and Hulu. Watch it here. Or, if you’re not sold yet, check out this preview:
[vimeo 2397935]
Fighting Goliath was produced by the Sundance Preserve and narrated by Robert Redford. It features our very own Director Tom “Smitty” Smith and covers a years-long battle against coal that is still ongoing today. As Redford has said about the film,
The heart of this film is really about issues of health, future generations and the value of our own land and resources. The film was made to support the story of the Texas coalition and their struggle against a giant power company. It is our way of giving other states and communities a model for what can happen when people take personal responsibility and get results. We want to let people know that they don’t have to give up hope.
Though 8 of the 11 TXU plants were canceled, the remaining 3 have been built and have begun operations – and they are dirtier than the 8 canceled plants combined. What’s more, there are 12 more coal plants either in the permitting process or being built in Texas – more new plant proposals than any other state in the country. Visit CoalBlock.org and StopTheCoalPlant.org for more information.
The film will also be shown on PBS during the months of January and February throughout Texas. Not all locations and times are solidified yet, but so far we have:
January 8, in College Station, Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen
January 9, in Houston
January 10, in Killeen
January 11, in Lubbock
January 21 at 8:30pm in Austin, Amarillo, Corpus Christi
Thursday, January 21 at 9:30pm and repeats Sunday January 24th at 1:30 pm for Waco
*Sometime* in January or February Midland/Odessa:
February 18 at 9pm in San Antonio
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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 | Tagged coal block, coal plant, coal rush, fighting goliath, hulu, robert redford, smitty, sundance preserve, Texas, texas coal wars, Tom "Smitty" Smith, TXU |
EDITOR’S NOTE: At this rate, we may actually finish reviewing the year in blog 2009 by the end of January 2010– just how we wanted to start the year!! But… stuff keeps happening…. and we can’t blog! Or we have to blog about the important, breaking news stuff! So, sorry for dragging this out, but we hope you’re having fun reminiscing as much as we are blogging about it.
5. The Little Climate Bill That Couldn’t
We had high hopes coming into 2009. Congressmen Waxman and Markey were hard at work on draft legislation that they promised would meet scientific standards on climate change. They had even collected signatures from the majority of their caucus on principles that they would build off of. And those principles were pretty good. So was Obama’s proposed budget, which showed they had revenue plans starting in 2012 of a 100% auction of CO2 credits- a 100% auction being the method that most agree brings quicker pollution reductions and is also, according to the EPA, the least regressive method of implementation. Hey, anything that hurts poor people the least is what we want to do, right?
WRONG. Clearly, you think differently than the majority of the US Congress.
Then Waxman and Markey released their draft legislation – our reaction was not pretty. Texas Congressmen had been complicit in weakening the bill away from the standards of the original principles.
Good Points:
- AMAZING building code and appliance standards for energy efficiency
- Good long term (2050) and short term (2020) goal for carbon reduction (still needed to be improved to what science calls for- but a good start)
- Had a renewable energy mandate and an efficiency mandate: we’d get 20% of our power from renewables by 2020 and increase energy efficiency by an additional 10%.
Bad points
- Well… all of those goals could be bigger.
- No language on how the carbon credits would be auctioned or allocated. Nada. Left to be decided later. Like a “scene missing” slide in a Nine Inch Nails video that gets crazier and scarier as time goes on….
And then the hearings on the bill started. In typical fashion, climate denier troglodytes like Texas’ own Joe Barton tried to slow down the proceedings– by insisting that the entire bill and its amendments be read aloud before the committee. Because of this unprecedented demand, the House Energy and Commerce Committee simply hired a speedreader.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_SB7g_Yb-0]
If only that had been the extent of the funny business with the bill… but both behind closed doors and by amendment in the committee, the climate bill got gutted. First, special giveaways to the nuclear industry. Then to the coal industry. Then decreasing the renewables and efficiency goals by almost half. Then offsets language that guaranteed that polluters would be able to continue to pollute above the cap– meaning in a bill whose primary purpose is to make sure we curb pollution so we don’t fry the planet, our emissions might actually GO UP, not down. And the bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, its largest hurdle, but by then it had been incredibly compromised. Our immediate reaction was: follow the money (ad this remains the single best explanation of what happened to the climate bill to date, imho– it also helps that I wrote it).
But they weren’t done with the gutting of the bill yet…
Then special giveaways to the agribusiness industry. And finally, the coup de grace, they stripped the EPA of their authority to regulate greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act.
During all of this, we were trying our best to stand up for ordinary Texans against these corporate interests– you may have seen us at the King William Parade in San Antonio, telling San Antonio’s Congressman Gonzalez, “Sorry Charlie, Bailouts Aren’t Green.” I think aside from crashing the Energy Citizens Rally this was the most fun I had all year.
We were, to say the least, conflicted. We REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted a climate bill. But what we got was a climate disaster. The Waxman-Markey Bill, co-authored by your special interest friends, passed on June 28. Ugh. It’s like sending out a birth announcement of a really, really ugly baby. Or opening a beautifully wrapped present you thought was the perfect gift but finding instead the world’s ugliest Christmas sweater. Disappointment? That’s not strong enough. To use the parlance of our day: #EPIC FAIL.
The Senate side hasn’t fared much better. Despite a decent framework from Senators Kerry and Boxer (it really needs to be improved, but it could be worse) passing through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (partisan knuckledraggers, led by Denier-in-Chief James Inhofe, actually boycotted the hearings and the vote), it has yet to be worked on by the Senate Finance Committee (who, you may have heard, was REALLY busy working on some bill having to do with health care. It didn’t get much media coverage, so you may have missed it. </sarcasm>)
Meanwhile, others felt that both the Boxer bill and the Waxman-Markey bill were DOA in the Senate, so a tri-partisan group of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA- look! I got my name on TWO climate bills this Congress!), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have said they would develop their own climate bill. No word yet on their framework (a draft could come any day now), but, unfortunately signs are pointing to “not good”. It seems the only thing the three of them can really agree on is more pork for nuclear.
However, the EPA in December issued an endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, the next step in actually regulating them, as they were ordered to do in 2007’s Massachusetts v EPA Supreme Court case. So a year that began on a hopeful note went bad, then worse…. but ended with a little ray of sunshine. Here’s to a New Year’s Resolution of ACTUALLY passing a climate and clean energy bill that can ACTUALLY fight climate change and create more clean energy. And just like that New Year’s Res to lose 10 pounds, this year we REALLY mean it!
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 | Tagged agribusiness, appliance standards, building codes, climate bill, climate change, coal industry, Energy Efficiency, environment and public works committee, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, finance committee, giveaways, Global Warming, house energy and commerce committee, james inhofe, Joe Barton, joe lieberman, john kerry, lindsey graham, Markey, nine inch nails, nuclear industry, obama, offsets, Public Citizen, renewable energy, Texas, Waxman, year in review |
On Wednesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett announced that the city of Austin will receive $4.8 Million in stimulus funds to train 1,000 workers in energy efficiency and clean energy jobs. Workers will be trained for jobs at solar plants in Austin, San Antonio and surrounding cities and states, and but the trainings will prepare participants for a variety of green jobs including solar installation.
As Doggett noted,
Green’s the word in Austin, and today greenbacks are on their way to further strengthen our commitment to clean energy. Green jobs have the ability to not only transform the way we do business, but re-power America; this training will provide workers with the nuts and bolts to construct a thriving clean energy economy right here in Central Texas.
This stimulus grant is part of a larger, $500 Million federal initiative to prepare and train workers for green jobs.
Sources: Austin American Statesman, Austin Business Journal
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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, solar | Tagged austin texas, green jobs, Lloyd Doggett, Public Citizen, San Antonio, solar, stimulus funds, Texas |
In response to the EPA’s announcement today of a proposed rule for tougher ozone standards, Governor Perry and his appointee to the TCEQ, Bryan Shaw, have been blowing a lot of smoke and hot air about what the rule would mean for Texas. Specifically, Perry and Shaw have stated incorrectly that the rule did not take cost-benefit analysis into account, and that it will do nothing more to protect human health.
Current standards for ozone are not protective of human health – in fact, the current rule ignored the recommendations of the EPA’s own scientists, and that is why Obama’s EPA has reconsidered it. In their decision to propose the rule, EPA reviewed more than 1,700 scientific studies and public comments from the 2008 rulemaking process – studies and comments that were simply ignored by the Bush Administration. The new rule will save lives, reduce cases of aggravated asthma, and avoid unnecessary hospital and emergency room visits. All things considered, the proposal will yield health benefits between $13 Billion and $100 Billion, with an implemented cost of $19 – $90 Billion – information which can be clearly found in the EPA’s press announcement today. It sounds like Governor Perry and Bryan Shaw were taking notes today from oil and gas profiteers scared they’ll have to pay for the devastation they’ve wreaked on Texas’ air rather than sound science and the facts.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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, Toxics | Tagged bryan shaw, bush administration, EPA, governor perry, obama, oil and gas, ozone, proposed rule, science, TCEQ, Texas |
Just following up on our post yesterday that the EPA was going to announce a new air quality standard limiting ozone pollution: they did it!
The United States Environmental Protection Agency today proposed the strictest health standards to date for smog…The agency is proposing to set the “primary” standard, which protects public health, at a level between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) measured over eight hours.
For those of you who, like me, loathe decimals, that’s the same as 60-70 parts per billion(ppb). The previous standard was 75 ppb, a threshhold that failed to protect human health. Ground-level ozone, also known as smog, is linked to a number of health problems such as asthma, and is especially dangerous for those with heart, lung or circulatory problems. Children are especially at risk.
Yesterday I noted that “the proposed rule would strengthen the Bush administration’s ozone standard, which did not meet scientific scrutiny or standards to protect public health.” But that statement doesn’t tell the whole story (because I didn’t know the whole story at the time — you learn something new every day). The fault with the current standard doesn’t lie with scientists — EPA scientists actually recommended a stricter standard, those recommendations were ignored when the final rule was set. According to the Washington Post,
Under Bush, EPA officials had initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law, but Bush forced the agency to abandon that proposal just before it announced the new standards.
The proposed rule will now undergo a 60-day comment period, after which it will be published in the Federal Register. The EPA will also have three public meetings on the proposed rule, one of which will be in Houston Feb. 4th.
So what does the new rule mean for Texas? I touched on a bit of that briefly yesterday, but for now I’ll defer to my boss (as he spoke to KERA radio):
That means… we are going to have to find new ways to reduce pollution. It may mean shutting down cement kilns and some plants… It may mean changing some of the ways we drive and getting more efficient automobiles, plug-in-hybrids on the road more rapidly.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Global Warming | Tagged air pollution, Austin, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, ozone, smog, Texas |
Part 4. Sunny With a Chance of Economic Development: Solar Potential, the Solar Session that wasn’t, and City of Austin Solar Plant
Last spring, our minds were budding with thoughts of birds, bees, and… Texas’ solar potential (didn’t you know, a robust solar program would put Texans back to work and position the state as a world leader for solar production!) Ah, sweet romance.
First Public Citizen, Environment Texas and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club hosted a statewide round of press conferences to roll out our solar report, Texas Solar Roadmap (though I’d really recommend the abridged version, Wildcatting the Sun). It seemed like every other legislator had some incarnation of a solar bill, and folks were wondering if this was going to be the solar session. We were (and remain) especially excited about the City of Austin’s potential to become the nation’s new clean energy hub, just like it was for the semiconductor industry — and almost like an answer to our prayers, within months the Austin City Council voted in favor of a 30MW solar plant in Webberville (though not without a little nerve-racking delay).
And of course, somewhere in that busy, busy time, we found time to make an awesome solar video for Environment Texas’ solar video contest:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dfv2yoCtjU&feature=player_embedded]
Too bad we just couldn’t compare to Mic SoL-O and his sweet, sweet rhymes:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvAt_mjKdik]
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Renewables, solar | Tagged Austin, City Council, environment texas, mic sol-o, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, solar, solar plant, solar power, Texas, texas solar roadmap, Webberville, wildcatting the sun |
Today Texas environmentalists, legislators, and medical practitioners wait with bated breath for an announcement from the EPA about a new air quality standard for ozone pollution. The proposed rule would strengthen the Bush administration’s ozone standard, which did not meet scientific scrutiny or standards to protect public health. Now that scientists have demonstrated that ozone is harmful at lower quantities than previously thought, the EPA will announce a revision to their ozone rule so that the threshold of ozone concentration where cities enter “non-attainment,” or violating the rule, is lower.
Three major metropolitan areas in Texas are already in non-attainment of the less-protective standard: Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston/Galveston, and Beaumont/Port Arthur. As a result of the new rule and lower threshold, several other areas could now be in risk of non-attainment: Austin, Tyler/Longview, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Waco. Reaching non-attainment status has some serious consequences for cities, such as losing federal highway funds.
In August of this year the new rule will go into effect, after which time the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will submit a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to the EPA. The SIP plan will more or less be a road-map to stay within the new standards and drastically reduce ozone pollution. The SIP is really where the good news comes into play, because to stay in line with higher standards Texas will need new pollution controls, clean energy alternatives and transportation choices.
Oh, Santa, you shouldn’t have! This is a much better gift than the coal we got in our stocking in the form of the Oak Grove Coal plant going on-line just days before the new year!
But there’s also a chance that this new ozone standard could ALSO give us a new opportunity to stop the coal rush. Pollution from coal plants is one of the largest single sources of ozone, so a really awesome super-smart SIP plan could potentially give us the chance to review existing clunkers and gum up the works for new plants. Oh I hope I hope I hope!
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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, Toxics | Tagged Air Quality, Austin, beaumont, corpus christi, dallas, EPA, fort worth, galveston, houston, longview, non-attainment, ozone pollution, port arthur, San Antonio, state implementation plan, TCEQ, Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, tyler, Waco |
*Update: Greg Harman at the San Antonio Current just published a fantastic and very thorough recap of the twisted nuclear saga. Check it out!
Here’s part 2 in this year’s first annual Year in Review: Top Texas Vox Stories of 2009 series. Part 1 is just a hop, skip and scroll down.
3. San Antonio Nuclear Debacle/Amores Nucleares Telenovela
This year has been a doozy for nuclear power, with the highlight of course being the San Antonio situation. Over the last 12 months San Antonio has ridden a wild wave of cost estimates, community meetings, protests, scandals, and misinformation. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember when…
Last January, CPS Energy committed to spend $60 million more on the proposed expansion of the South Texas Nuclear Project, a decision which at that point brings the city utility’s total expenditures on units 3 & 4 to $267 million. Not long after that, Austin City Council took a look at participating in the expansion project but said “No way, that’s much too risky of an investment for us.” San Antonio decided that something magical (but mysterious) was different for them, despite our prediction in late April that the proposed reactors could actually cost as much as $22 Billion. Mum was CPS’ word on a cost estimate at that time, but by June they announced that $13 Billion was a good, round number. We worried at this point that CPS was being overly optimistic, ignoring the history of the South Texas Project and other nukes around the nation and independent reports, but those concerns largely fell on deaf ears.
Then over the summer, CPS Energy launched a massive public outreach campaign, with meetings in every district — but kind of botched it. Despite activists’ protests that CPS’ cost numbers were innacurate, the utiltiy refused to release their information or back up numbers, and many San Antonio citizens left the community meetings feeling disenchanted with the process and suspicious of CPS.
As a rising tide of activists and concerned citizens grew, eventually they formed the coalition group Energía Mía and worked together to halt CPS’ spending for more nuclear reactors. The group launched a string of protests and press conferences highlighting the many flaws of nuclear power and the San Antonio deal in particular. Everyone was all geared up for a big showdown the last week in October, but then the cowpie really hit the rotating bladed device (let’s call it a windmill). For the next part, I’m going to pull from a previous post where I likened the whole situation to a geeky, policy version of a telenovela.
Previously, on Amores Nucleares:
With just days before San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds for new nuclear reactors, it was leaked that the project could actually cost $4 Billion more than CPS had been saying all summer (according to Toshiba, who would actually be building the plant). The vote was postponed, there was an impromptu press conference, and it came out that CPS staff had actually known about the cost increase for more than a week — Oops! Oh, and the “leak” wasn’t that CPS came out with the truth, an aide from the mayor’s office only found out after confronting CPS about a rumor he’d heard. But how did the mayor’s office find out? NRG, CPS’ partner in the project was the “Deepthroat”, because they were going to announce Toshiba’s $17 Billion cost estimate at a shareholder’s meeting soon after the city council vote and thought, geez, that could look really bad for CPS! Meanwhile, CPS reps flew to Japan in a hurry to figure things out. Steve Bartley, interim GM for CPS, resigned. Furious that CPS had hidden the ugly truth from City Council, the mayor demanded the resignation of two key CPS board members, and got City Council to vote unanimously that they get the boot. Chairwoman Aurora Geis agreed to go, but Steve Hennigan said “No Way, Jose.” THEN CPS completed an internal audit of the whole shebang to figure out what-the-hell-happened, which found that Steve Bartley was to blame, and everyone else was only guilty of failure in their “responsibility of prompt disclosure”. Then it came out the project could be even more way way expensive than anyone thought (except of course Energia Mia, Public Citizen, SEED Coalition, the Center for American Progress, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and analysts Arjun Makhijani, Clarence Johnson, Craig Severance, and Mark Cooper to name a few). And then those crazy cats all started suing each other.
So in the end, they told folks all summer long that the plant would cost $13 Billion, even though insiders knew since late June that it could very well be $4 Billion more. Latest update is that the plant could really cost $18.2 Billion! On December 31st, Toshiba provided CPS with another new estimate, which the utility will use to come up with their own new cost estimate mid-January. City council is slated to vote sometime after that, once and for all, on $400 million in bonds to continue the project.
But clearly, enough is enough. So if you live in San Antonio, tell City Council to stop throwing good money after bad, and to cut their losses before its too late. Tell them to vote “no” to nuclear bonds and start the year off fresh and free from the “ghost of nuclear projects past.”
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Nuclear | Tagged amores nucleares, Arjun Makhijani, austin city council, center for american progress, city public services, CPS, CPS Energy, craig severance, Energia Mia, japan, mark cooper, NRG, Nuclear, nuclear information and resource service, nuclear reactors, nukes, Public Citizen, San Antonio, SEED Coalition, solar, south texas nuclear project, steve hennigan, STP, Texas, texas vox |
Now that the ball’s dropped, toasts made, fireworks popped and black eyed peas consumed, we’re feeling reflective today. Faced with that eternally annual question, “Should Auld Aquaintance Be Forgot?“, I’m moved to such mental poetry as “Heck no, this year was too much fun!”
We’ve had a hell of a year here at Texas Vox. In such a short span we’ve gone from a humble policy blog, primarily read internally and by our own interns, to stake our claim as a top climate and energy blog in the state, with a national and even international reach. And you, dear citizen-readers, are not the only ones to take notice: from responses we’ve received over the year it is clear that we’re also on the radar of agency commissioners, legislators, city council members and even the office of the governor. Not too shabby for 12 month’s time, and an exciting place to be as we enter a new decade and crucial political time.
So here’s the first segment of our “Year in Review” series: the Top Texas Vox Stories of 2009.
1. Energy Citizens
Remember when, way back in August, your intrepid friends at Texas Vox boogied down to Houston to crash the American Petroleum Institute’s astroturf “Energy Citizens” rally? This was the first of several rallies across the nation that API staged to make it look like there was a strong, ground-up movement against a federal climate change bill. But it turned out that the event was more of a company picnic than a grassroots campaign; they blocked our entry and wouldn’t even let in the “real” anti-cap and trade grassroots, as organized by folks like Freedomworks — no American flags either! But never fear, your own Citizen Sarah was able to sneak past their burly guards and interview a few of these so-called Energy Citizens — who we found out say the darndest things (like that they don’t really know much of anything about the climate and energy bill and are there because or their employers)!
API’s antics didn’t end in Houston, either — in North Carolina, they even locked out the state representative of the district where the rally was held! After a few more rallies, it quickly became clear that on top of being funded by the American Petroleum Institute and stocked with energy company employees, the majority of them were also organized by oil-industry lobbyists. But by that point, no one was buying API’s story anymore. Way to bust ’em, Netroots!
2. The 2009 81st Legislative Session
Activists had high hopes for the 2009 81st Legislative Session. With the new Obama administration, fear of pending federal climate legislation, and a new Speaker of the House to break the Craddickocracy, it seemed almost certain that good bills would pass to move Texas closer to a clean energy future.
Two weeks into the session, Public Citizen Texas’ legislative package (which included such lofty goals as significant climate change legislation, a major update of state energy efficiency programs, a non-wind renewable portfolio standard (RPS), and a bill to create incentives for solar power) was in the best shape it had ever been, and the session looked to be one of the most productive in history. At this point, all of the bills Public Citizen’s Texas office supported had made it out of committee, been passed by either one chamber or the other, and had made it out of Calendars committee and were scheduled for debate.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of our legislation was calendared behind an incredibly contentious Voter ID bill which would have required Texas voters to present a valid driver’s license to vote. In order to block this bill, House Democrats adopted the “chubbing” tactic — talking bills to death — to avoid getting far enough down the bill list to have to vote on the Voter ID bill.
This stalling technique cut five days from the end of the session deadline and killed a tragically long laundry list of bills that were scheduled after Voter ID. As an example, SB 16, an omnibus air quality bill which would have provided funding for TERP, plug-in hybrids, and a diesel emissions reduction plan, was directly after Voter ID on Calendars. Our solar incentives bill was also on the same page, and the non-wind RPS bill was scheduled to be discussed the following day. It was a very disheartening end to an otherwise shining legislative session — kind of like a great interception and full field run that ended in a trip just shy of the 1 yard line.
But there were still some great victories in there. These major wins included:
- Funding for the Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP) for areas in non-attainment status of the federal Clean Air Act (CHB 1796)
- A carbon dioxide registry to address the state’s contribution to global warming (CHB 1796)
- A “green fee” bill allowing the governing board of public colleges and universities to institute an environmental service fee (once approved by student body election)
- A bill to create municipal solar districts that would allow local governments to provide low-cost loans to consumers to install solar on roofs (HB 1937)
- A “no regrets” strategy for greenhouse gas reduction in the state. This bill will require the State Comptroller to examine the state’s energy use in order to find ways to reduce our emissions and save money at the same time (SB 184)
- A green fleets bill to promote low emissions and plug-in hybrid vehicles for fleets of major state agencies (HB 432)
For the full text, all-green-groups wrap-up number, read the press release Texas Legislature Advances Clean Power and Green Jobs, but Loses Steam in Political Wranglings.
Check back with us tomorrow for more fun stories from 2009!
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Renewables, solar | Tagged 2009, 2010, 81st legislative session, Air Quality, american petroleum institute, API, astroturf, auld lange syne, calendars, chubbing, City Council, clean air act, Clean Energy, climate, climate legislation, Energy, Energy Citizens, Energy Efficiency, freedomworks, governor perry, green fleets, green gee, Netroots, new year, no regrets, north carolina, Obama administration, public citizen texas, solar districts, solar power, Texas, Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP), texas vox, voter id |
The Texas Progressive Alliance is still somewhat amazed to be living in the year we make contact, and we hope we’re all still going strong when Odyssey Three rolls around.
Texas has most drilling, worst regulation. Texas made national news this week in the ProPublica investigative report and they used pictures provided by TXsharon @ Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
WhosPlayin reports that the local city council is once again considering the question of whether to participate in 287(g) and force its vendors to use E-Verify to check for work eligibility.
BossKitty at TruthHugger found a poignant editorial on Al Jazeera: Weary Soldiers At Risk, They Know This – Why do foreign correspondents have more in depth observations than America’s own Corporate media who follows the money and toes the line for sponsors political perks that promise ’scoops’.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks all kids should be given free, nutritious school meals. Just do it.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses another worthless GOP plan for transportation in Texas, Kay’s transportation plan is a clunker.
The Texas Cloverleaf questions whether or not a Houston City Councilman-elect knows the difference between a campaign website and city resources.
Off the Kuff called out some political gamesmanship over the murder rate in Harris County.
Last week Teddy reviewed the best of the Left of College Station, and looks at the year ahead at Left of College Station. This week Left of College Station will begin coverage of the 2010 campaign season in the Brazos Valley, and report on human trafficking in Houston.
Candidate filings, including Gordon Quan for Harris County Judge and a list of the statewides, appears in PDiddie’s post at Brains and Eggs.
Bay Area Houston hopes the next decade will be better than the last.
Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog covered Gordon Quan’s campaign kickoff including full video of Quan’s speech.
LibbyShaw puts together the latest throw downs exposing GOP hypocrisy and lies. Check it out : Rachel Maddow Busts Republicans for Cowardice, Hypocrisy and Lies.
At McBlogger, Mayor McSleaze noted with some interest that Marc Katz filed for Lt. Governor. Some, but not much. More important to him was a really nasty prairie dog attack.
Neil at Texas Liberal selected his wife as person of the decade and named his blog—Texas Liberal— as blog of the decade.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Global Warming | Tagged al jazeera, asian american action fund, bay area houston, bravos valley, City Council, couldbetrue, eye on williamson, foreign correspondents, gas drilling, gordon quan, harris county, houston, houston city council, human trafficking, left of college station, libby shaw, mcblogger, off the kuff, propublica, rachel maddow, regulation, school lunch, soldiers, south texas chisme, Texas, texas cloverleaf, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round, transportation, truthhugger, whosplayin |
December 28, 2009 by Public Citizen Texas
The November/December edition of Public Citizen News, a bi-monthly newsletter distributed to Public Citizen members, featured this article on our statewide “Roll Beyond Coal” Tour. Since not all of you out there get the newsletter, I thought I’d share:
‘Roll Beyond Coal’ Tours Texas
By Geena Wardaki
It’s not often that you lug a 20-foot-tall inflatable “coal plant” around Texas to protest dirty coal-fueled power plants.
But that’s exactly what Public Citizen and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club did in September.
The “coal plant” served as a powerful image that drove home the message to “clean up dirty power plants now,” which the groups delivered to Texas residents during the “Roll Beyond Coal” tour.
The groups visited Texas communities where proposed coal plants would be built and met with local grassroots and citizen organizations.
The two-week tour, which was part of Public Citizen’s Coal Block campaign, stopped in Waco, Dallas, Abilene, College Station, Corpus Christi, Bay City, Houston and Austin. Texas residents turned out in crowds of varying sizes to show their support and protest with the tour at each stop.
“The biggest cities actually had the smallest response,” said Ryan Rittenhouse, Coal Block campaign director for Public Citizen’s Texas office. “The largest turnouts were from grassroots movements where the issue is more local, smaller towns where proposed coal plants would be built and whose residents would be directly affected.”
Area demonstrators included members of T.P.O.W.E.R. (Texans Protecting Our Water Environment and Resources) from Waco, the No Coal Coalition from Bay City, the Multi-County Coalition from Sweetwater and the Clean Economy Coalition from Corpus Christi.
“Roll Beyond Coal” had two main objectives: one, to show support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent finding that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) rules for granting permits to new coal plants do not comply with the federal Clean Air Act; and two, to push the EPA to stop the TCEQ from granting any permits for or allowing the operation of any new coal-powered plants and from issuing any new air pollution permits. TCEQ currently issues “flex permits,” which allow coal plants to sometimes exceed emissions as long as they don’t go over their total emission caps for the year. Eleven coal plants are proposed or under construction in Texas, more than any other state in the country.
The “Roll Beyond Coal” tour also educated people about federal climate change legislation making its way through Congress (H.R. 2454). Concern exists that new climate change legislation will grandfather proposed or newly built plants, allowing the plants to avoid the proposed emissions standards. (Senate climate change legislation also would enable new plants to be evade emission control standards for a decade.)
Public Citizen told residents to call and write Texas Sens. John Cornyn (R) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), and urge them to vote against the grandfathering of new coal plants in the climate change legislation. (Visit www.coalblock.org to see how you can e-mail these senators, too.)
“The ‘Roll Beyond Coal’ tour was an important and entertaining way to reach out to Texas residents and get them engaged and involved in blocking dirty coal power plants,” Rittenhouse said.
“Now, people need to let their lawmakers know that coal plants should not get special treatment in any climate change legislation.”
Geena Wardaki is a Public Citizen communications intern.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 | Tagged abilene, Austin, bay city, clean air act, clean economy coalition, coal block, coal plant, college station, corpus christi, dallas, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, federal climate change legislation, flex permits, grandfathering, grassroots, H.R. 2454, houston, john cornyn, kay bailey hutchison, lone star chapter, Multi-County Coalition, no coal coalition, public citizen texas, roll beyond coal, ryan rittenhouse, Sierra Club, sweetwater, T.P.O.W.E.R., TCEQ, Texans Protecting Our Water Environment and Resources, Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Waco |
The Texas Progressive Alliance would like to thank everyone for reading all of the weekly blog roundups this year. This is the last roundup of 2009, and we are all looking forward to 2010.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to be afraid of drug cartels buying our politicians. We’ve all seen what money and power did to health care reform. Imagine all that drug money buying power here. It’s time to legalize drugs and take away the profit.
You can’t make this stuff up at Bay Area Houston. GOP “Bubba” white supremacist wanted for murder.
Barnett Shale Communities can breathe easier after a VICTORY last week when TCEQ issued a new emission policy following the release of Texas OGAP’s Study: Shale Gas Threatens Human Health. Read the study and view documents TCEQ will use to record odor complaints and take necessary enforcement action.
WhosPlayin picked up on the TCEQ policy change, and also weighed in on strange comments by a Flower Mound Councilman explaining his vote not to impose an oil and gas moratorium. Speaking of councilmen, Lewisville has a teabagger councilman who wants to turn down a $913,000 stimulus grant from the federal government.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the potential for a contested party chair race in Dallas County. And, it is among the Democrats.
Xanthippas at Three Wise Men, on Robert George, the conservative Christian “big thinker” who dresses up old prejudices in new rationales.
Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog is terribly excited that Gordon Quan is running for Harris County Judge.
Off the Kuff writes about Harris County Board of Ed Trustee Michael Wolfe, the silliest officeholder in Harris County.
Escalation in Afghanistan, a health care reform bill lacking a public option, and another climate change bust in Copenhagen has left a lot of Obama believers stranded at the intersection of Hope and Change. PDiddie has stepped off the bus; read why at Brains and Eggs.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the GOP property tax swap has fixed nothing, as most people knew back when it passed, The Texas GOP and the Texas budget.
Neil at Texas Liberal said that all of us in life seek the 60 votes of hope and kindness to defeat the filibusters of despair and anger. The Senate of life is always session so that we can rustle up the needed votes.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Global Warming | Tagged Afghanistan, asian american action fund, Barnett shale, bay area houston, change, climate change, copenhagen, couldbetrue, dallas county, democrats, drug cartels, eye on williamson, filibuster, flower mound, gop, gordon quan, harris county, health care reform, health reform, hope, human health, lewisville, michael wolfe, off the kuff, oil and gas moratorium, public option, robert george, shale gas, south texas chisme, TCEQ, Texas, texas cloverleaf, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, texas progressive alliance, three wise men, wcnews, weekly round up, whosplayin, xanthippas |
The San Antonio Nuclear Expansion Soap Opera plot thickens. Today’s update brings the shocking news that South Texas Project Reactors 3 & 4 could actually cost, not $13 Billion, not even $17 Billion… but $18.2 Billion!
With all the trouble CPS has gotten into recently regarding transparency (a gentle term we’re using that translates roughly to “lying to the public and covering up bad news”), you’d think that they would’ve come forward and made this estimate public as soon as humanly possible.
But you’d be wrong. Instead, they presented the numbers to their board in a closed session last week (read: NOT public, you’re not invited). Sometime later, the San Antonio Express-News got wind of the update, “based on numbers provided by the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co”, and published the results.
When will CPS learn that they have got to be honest with the public, the mayor, and city council? They told folks all summer long that the plant would cost $13 Billion, even though insiders knew since late June that it could very well be $4 Billion more. CPS has led a lengthy and sloppy cover-up campaign of STP and nuclear power’s “inconvenient truth” that culminated in resignations, an internal investigation, and several firings and demotions.
Am I going to fast for you? Did you miss a few episodes, and are confused that CPS’ prize project could so quickly fall to pieces? Let’s do a recap.
Previously, on Amores Nucleares:
With just days before San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds for new nuclear reactors, it was leaked that the project could actually cost $4 Billion more than CPS had been saying all summer (according to Toshiba, who would actually be building the plant). The vote was postponed, there was an impromptu press conference, and it came out that CPS staff had actually known about the cost increase for more than a week — Oops! Oh, and the “leak” wasn’t that CPS came out with the truth, an aide from the mayor’s office only found out after confronting CPS about a rumor he’d heard. But how did the mayor’s office find out? NRG, CPS’ partner in the project was the “Deepthroat”, because they were going to announce Toshiba’s $17 Billion cost estimate at a shareholder’s meeting soon after the city council vote and thought, geez, that could look really bad for CPS! Meanwhile, CPS reps flew to Japan in a hurry to figure things out. Steve Bartley, interim GM for CPS, resigned. Furious that CPS had hidden the ugly truth from City Council, the mayor demanded the resignation of two key CPS board members, and got City Council to vote unanimously that they get the boot. Chairwoman Aurora Geis agreed to go, but Steve Hennigan said “No Way, Jose.” THEN CPS completed an internal audit of the whole shebang to figure out what-the-hell-happened, which found that Steve Bartley was to blame, and everyone else was only guilty of failure in their “responsibility of prompt disclosure”. And then this week it came out the project could be even more way way expensive than anyone thought (except of course Energia Mia, Public Citizen, SEED Coalition, the Center for American Progress, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and analysts Arjun Makhijani, Clarence Johnson, Craig Severance, and Mark Cooper to name a few).
That about brings us up to speed.
So what is next? December 31st, Toshiba should come out with a new, “official” cost estimate, which CPS will use to come up with their own cost estimate mid-January. City council is slated to vote January 15th, once and for all, on $400 million in bonds to continue the project. But clearly, enough is enough. Tell City Council to stop throwing good money after bad, and to cut their losses before its too late. Tell them to vote “no” to nuclear bonds January 15th, and start the year off fresh and free from the “ghost of nuclear projects past.”
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Global Warming | Tagged amores nucleares, Arjun Makhijani, clarence johnson, CPS Energy, craig severance, Energia Mia, mark cooper, Nuclear, nuclear expansion, Nuke Free Texas, Public Citizen, San Antonio, san antonio express news, SEED Coalition, soap opera, South Texas Project, Texas, transparency |
December 23, 2009 by Public Citizen Texas
By Kirsten Bokenkamp
During his campaign, President Obama said “change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” As individuals, we need to internalize this, and act on it. This is the last blog in the Green-up Your Life! series, a series dedicated to the many ways we, as individuals, can reduce climate change.
Unfortunately, the environmentally-friendly changes to our daily lives is just the first step to securing a livable planet for future generations. In addition, we must demand that our government adopt laws to protect our planet. While the science behind climate change is well established, our leaders will not act until we make them. The importance of government action to combat climate change was made clear in a recent Washington Post op-ed by Mike Tidwell titled To really save the planet, stop going green. In the op-ed, Tidwell argues that “going green” is tricking many people into actually thinking that there is major change happening, when in reality, only a very small percentage of people buy compact florescent light bulbs and fuel efficient cars, have a compost pile, and eat vegetarian diets, etc. “Going green”, in effect, is creating a false impression of change, which is actually hindering the real process of change. If we care, we should adopt a “green” lifestyle and incorporate the above activities into our lives – but doing all of these individual things does not dismiss us from taking political action to demand large-scale change.
What does this mean for us? It means learning the details about climate change legislation, and calling/writing/visiting our state and federal representatives to demand that they take action. Not sure what to ask for? Here are a few things to get you started:
• A bill that achieves emissions cuts of at least 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80-95% by 2050 (right now, the Waxman-Markey Bill cuts emissions by only 4% of 1990 levels. Unfortunately, the Waxman-Markey Bill deceptively uses 2005 levels, and thus the 17% reduction in emissions seems to be near the scientific requirements. But, as Congress well understands, the rest of the international community and climate scientists use 1990 levels as their base. Thus, the 17% emissions cut at 2005 levels turns out to be only 4% of 1990 levels, a number far from minimum 25% necessary to save our planet.)
• Stopping the construction of new coal plants.
• Increasing funding for renewable energy and creating green jobs
We all have the tools and knowledge necessary to create change on a personal and political level. The next steps are advocacy, action, and maintenance. We are facing a huge crisis, and taking only small and popular steps are not enough. Obama said it himself – we are the change that we have been waiting for. So let’s do it!
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, 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 Global Warming | Tagged cap and trade, change, climate change, green, greensboro, individual, politics, president obama, responsibility, Texas, Waxman-Markey bill |
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With blue lips and chattering teeth, the Texas Progressive Alliance brings you a hot steaming mug of blog highlights for the week.
