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Posts Tagged ‘Austin’

Watch my debut on Austin at Issue: Energy for the Future!

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2010 |

UPDATE: Here it is. Great job KLRU, KUT and the Statesman for putting together a great show on an important topic!

http://www.klru.org/aai/

Unable to  embed unfortunately.

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Public Citizen participated in developing an energy plan for Austin to cut carbon emissions, use more renewables, and promote energy efficiency. And because we did, I’m about to be famous!

Pay no attention to that girl trying to steal my spotlight

Recently, I was one of several energy experts interviewed about the plan for a special program called “Austin at Issue: Energy for the Future”—a joint project of KLRU-TV (Austin’s PBS), KUT, and the Austin American-Statesman.

Watch “Austin at Issue: Energy for the Future” this Thursday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m. on KLRU or listen at 8 p.m. on KUT 90.5 FM.

City Council should vote on the plan to brighten Austin’s energy future sometime in March. To educate Austinites about the plan, the mayor is holding a town hall meeting on Monday, February 22, from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Palmer Events Center.

We need to show support for investment in renewables and energy efficiency that will bring new green jobs to Austin, and move us away from old dirty energy sources.

So do your homework by watching or listening to Austin at Issue, or visit www.cleanenergyforaustin.org, and come on out to the Mayor’s town hall on Monday. Look for the Public Citizen crew and stand with us to support Austin’s clean energy future!

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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.

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What’s Missing from Austin’s Energy Generation Plan Discussion

Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2010 |

The Austin American Statesman’s article this morning about Austin’s 2020 energy plan leaves a few things out that are crucial to understanding the costs and benefits of adding more energy efficiency and renewable power to Austin’s generation portfolio. Judging from the rather depressing comments section, many readers took away the unfortunate misconception that poor Austinites will have to sacrifice for green energy goals. I’d like to clear that up today.

Few things irk me more than when people fail to see the connection between improving social welfare and protecting the environment.

The notion that green power has to come at the expense of low-income households needs to be eradicated. Social welfare and protecting the environment are not conflicting or exclusive goals. By cleaning up the way we produce electric power and making homes more energy efficient, we can do much to improve the quality of life in Austin. And by making homes that can be heated and cooled with less energy, we can save low-income families money on one of their biggest monthly expenditures AND keep Austinites healthy and safe during bitter cold and dangerous summer heat.

There are a few key points that need to be part of the public discussion about the energy plan which have largely been absent from the public radar. I’d ask any Austinite doing their homework for the Mayor’s Town Hall on Monday to take these issues into consideration:

The Plan is Flexible

As part of the Generation Resource Planning Task Force, I voted with all other members of the Task Force to include a provision that Austin review the plan every two years in case any one resource option became too costly (recommendation 3a-b). That way, AE would have the ability to adapt its plan and go with something cheaper. This is a ratepayer protection and cost control mechanism that will protect all customer classes and should be included in the public discussion about the plan. As my friend Cyrus Reed at the Sierra Club puts it astutely: the plan is a roadmap, not a straightjacket.

That’s the beauty of a diverse energy portfolio. Austin would not have this ability if it were locked into building a new nuclear plant or coal plant (like CPS Energy is).

Energy Efficiency is part of the plan

Public discussion of this plan tends to focus on supply-side renewable resources, but the biggest component of the energy plan is energy efficiency. If it met its goals, Austin would achieve 800-1000 MW of energy savings by 2020. The next highest new resource addition would be wind (~562 additional MW when taking into account 203 MW worth of expiring wind contracts). 800 MW of efficiency represents 55% of all the resource additions that encompass the Resource & Climate Protection Plan (note that 100 MW of gas, 100 MW of biomass, and 30 MW of solar that are due to come online over the next three years are not part of the plan).

Efficiency achieves carbon reduction objectives and affordability objectives. Thus, the biggest component of the energy plan will help keep bills low. It’s also worth pointing out that if we do not achieve the efficiency goals, we will need new supply-side generation in order to keep the lights on–800 MW worth. Without efficiency, bills are sure to go up much higher because all supply-side options are more expensive than efficiency.

Comparisons give perspective

Let’s talk about bill impacts on the poor. Take a drive down I-35. San Antonio’s utility, CPS Energy predicts they will need to increase rates 40% by 2020 and that does not even include the future cost increase for natural gas or costs for investing in the proposed expansion of the South Texas Nuclear Plant, which has risen from ~$6 billion in 2007 to $18 billion today before license application are adjudicated or construction begins.

No one is advocating for environmental protection at the expense of the poor. That is flat-out a false choice. This plan won’t do that because of the protections that will be put in place, the overwhelming focus on energy efficiency and AE taking a more proactive and cooperative approach to services for those struggling to pay their utility bills. In order to make electricity more affordable for people, it is up to us as a community to adopt a pragmatic approach to realizing and achieving the complimentary goals of social welfare and environmental protection. After all, you can’t have one without the other.

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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.

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Austin Mayor to Host Town Hall Meeting on Energy Generation Plan

Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 12, 2010 |

I sure hope you don’t have any plans for the evening of Monday, February 22nd, because it is going to be the social event of the season (and by season, I mean this 6-week period of rain and cold we’re getting due to that pesky groundhog’s shadow prediction — curse you Punxsutawny Phil!). From 6-8pm Austin’s Mayor Lee Leffingwell will host a town hall meeting on Austin Energy’s proposed energy generation plan. We need you to come to show your support for clean energy and energy efficiency in Austin.  All the cool kids are going to be there — just check out the list of stars on the Facebook event page.

The town hall will be an opportunity for Austinites to learn more about the Resource & Climate Protection Plan that I geeked out about last week. For those of you keeping score, I’m a fan of the plan because it will significantly reduce our carbon emissions, increase the diversity of our energy portfolio (with, a-hem, renewables), and sets us on a path to divestiture from the Fayette Coal Plant (Austin’s somewhat secret shame). But don’t take my word for it — more than 60 local businesses, 16 non-profit organizations, and over 200 individual supporters support it as well. To join them, visit CleanEnergyforAustin.org and add your name to a letter supporting the energy plan put forth by Austin Energy as well as the additional recommendations of the Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force (which our boy Matt was a member of, along with other stakeholders such as the Building Owners and Managers Association and Freescale).

I certainly hope you can make it out to the meeting February 22nd from 6-8pm at the Palmer Events Center. Look for the Public Citizen crew and stand with us to support Austin’s clean energy future!

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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.

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Energy Generation Plan Presented to Austin City Council

Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2010 |

Last Thursday Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan briefed Austin City Council on the utility’s Resource and Climate Protection Plan.  This plan is the culmination of 18 months of input from the public, the creation of a generation resource task force of various stakeholders to review various energy plans and make recommendations, and support and input from both the Electric Utility Commission and the Resource Management Com­mis­sion — but it still isn’t the end of the line for the plan.  The generation plan will also be the subject of a city-wide town hall meeting February 22nd, and city council is expected to vote on some version of it in March.

The energy plan that Duncan (who will be retiring soon and we wish him the very best) presented  sets Austin on a path to reduce our carbon emissions 20% below 2005 levels by 2020 and get a total of 35% of our energy from renewable resources. It will meet council’s renewable energy goals, move Austin Energy towards becoming the leading utility in the nation in terms of clean energy and global warming solutions, and re-affirm the city’s commitment to the Climate Protection Plan, which has the laudable goal to establish a cap and reduction plan for the utility’s carbon dioxide emissions.  It is a flexible, living document that will allow council to evolve and adapt as conditions change. AND it will reduce the capacity factor of our Fayette Coal Plant to 60% and gets the ball rolling on figuring out the best way to shut it down(which you know makes me happy). Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, doesn’t it?

As we’ve come to expect over the years from our award winning utility, Austin Energy is taking an especially responsible and forward-thinking role with this new plan.  I’ve formed this opinion for a few reasons:

  1. They’re adopting aggressive renewable energy and efficiency goals as part of a larger, smart business plan.  Austin doesn’t need a new generation plan because we’re going to be strapped for energy by 2020; Austin Energy could rest on their laurels and do nothing for the next ten years and we’d be fine buying up excess energy on the open market as its power purchase agreements expire and gas plants age.  But if they did that, by the time 2020 rolled around Austin would be way behind the technological curve and very likely be stuck with higher rates as a result.  Austin Energy has picked up on the national trend that the traditional fuels we rely upon, such as coal, are quickly becoming financial liabilities even as solar and wind are becoming more and more cost effective.  This plan will allow the utility to reposition itself  for 2020 going forward so that in ten years we will have made the preparations necessary to take full advantage of the coming clean tech boom rather than be left scrambling and dependent on outdated energy sources.
  2. Austin Energy and the task force that helped formulate this plan were very careful to balance considerations of reliability, affordability, and clean (in terms of the environment and human health).  The city has the responsibility to make sure that everyone who lives here can afford their utility bills.  It doesn’t do any good to make the switch to a new clean economy if we do so on the backs of those that can least afford it.  But that couldn’t be farther from the case with this plan; this isn’t green for some, this is green for all.  Compared to other options, this plan will minimize the impact for those least able to pay their electricity bill, supports in-house economic development and the hiring of local contractors, and ensures that everyone will have a chance to play a role in moving our city and economy forward.  There’s been a lot of focus and attention on the utility’s estimate that the plan will raise rates in 2020 by approximately 22% or $21 a month, but what’s missing from that discussion is that even if Austin Energy doesn’t do anything between now and 2020 rates will go up by 15% or about $14 a month.  So do the math — for an extra $7 a month in ten years, we can build up a clean local economy that minimizes impacts on low-income consumers and creates avenues to new employment opportunities, improves public health, AND puts Austin in a prime position to start lowering rates by taking advantage of cheap renewable energy. OR we can save families $7 a month compared to today on their utility bills but lose out on new jobs and leave every citizen in the city of Austin at the mercy of high fossil fuel costs and coming federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.  Austin Energy is not only looking at what is most affordable now, but what is most affordable in the long term. Coal may be cheap and reliable energy now, but depending on it in the long term will get us into trouble in terms of cheap and affordable in 2020.
  3. Austin Energy is not only reaching for the low fruit of emissions reductions and energy efficiency, they’re building high-tech ladders to get at the really juicy stuff at the top of the tree. Let me explain. There are a number of ways Austin Energy could go about reducing emissions.  The easiest of these would be to buy renewable energy credits, or RECs. RECs and offsets are in essence a mechanism for utilities, businesses, and governmental bodies to pay someone else to clean up and still get the credit for it.  They’re a good and have a positive influence on society at large because they do encourage clean energy investment and development, but not necessarily in a nearby community (in fact almost certainly not).  It might be easier in the short run to pay someone else to be clean up, but then we miss out on all the delicious creamy gravy that comes along with renewable energy development.  If you buy RECs you don’t get new jobs and businesses in your community.  If you buy RECs your own people are still breathing the same amount of pollution.  But Austin Energy is taking the initiative to really get at the heart of the problem by cutting the amount of pollution coming out of the smokestacks we own.  For that, they should be applauded.

This is just my own personal take-away from listening to various people discuss the recommendation plan and hearing Roger Duncan’s presentation to council. You can learn a lot more about the process and final recommended plan by visiting AustinSmartEnergy.com or CleanEnergyforAustin.org. Join us after the jump for some fast facts on the various components of the plan, but for the real nitty gritty check out Duncan’s own powerpoint presentation.

(more…)

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Free Activist Workshop in Austin Feb. 5th, Houston Feb. 6th

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2010 |

This week we’re working with Environment Texas and several other activist groups in Austin and Houston to host free activist workshops and training days! 

The training is being run by The Public Interest Network and will feature sessions on:

    * the best techniques for organizing your neighbors to take action, and* the best ways to persuade your local media to cover an issue you care about.

It’s a chance to learn, share ideas and connect with other environmentally active citizens, as well as activists from other causes. 

Our own Ryan Rittenhouse and (Citizen) Sarah McDonald will be on-hand at the Austin workshop, and we hope to see you there! To register for the Austin workshop from Friday, Feb. 5, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., click here! To RSVP for the Houston training on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., click here!

**Personal note: Attending one of these Houston trainings during my senior year at Rice University was one of the ways I got my foot in the activist/media door.  The experience is definitely worth giving up a little TGIF/Saturday morning cartoon time. Hope to see you there, and if you go to Houston please let me know how your training day went!

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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.

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Texas Green Network January Events

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on January 20, 2010 |

2 big upcoming events for the Texas Green Network:

January 21st — an inaugural San Antonio networking event, an introduction to San Antonio’s green business community

January 27th —  green tradeshow workshop & show featuring members of Texas Green Network (Austin)


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Public Citizen Welcomes Opportunity for Senate to Hold Rogue Utility CPS Energy Accountable

Posted in Energy, Good Government, Nuclear, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2010 |

Statement of Tom “Smitty” Smith, Director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office

The latest interim charge of the state Senate Business and Commerce Committee provides a welcome opportunity for Texas to rein in rogue utilities like CPS Energy of San Antonio. Now tasked with studying the costs of municipally owned utilities’ generation plans and their impacts on residential and commercial customers, the Senate committee has the opportunity to protect Texans, especially low-income families, from the machinations of a utility bent on pleasing its industrial consumers at the cost of its most vulnerable customers.

CPS Energy is pursuing a risky investment in a nuclear expansion project that, depending on the final cost of the project, would raise rates between 36 percent and 60 percent over the next 10 years. The municipally owned utility has failed to adequately involve the citizenry and city government in its generation planning process. CPS Energy’s nuclear energy plan lacks any mechanism to protect consumers or low-income families, despite the fact that those customers would have to pick up the tab if the deal gets more expensive.

In comparison, the city of Austin’s generation planning process spanned two years and involved public input and roundtable stakeholder negotiations, leading to the development of special policies to protect low-income families from higher bills. Policies like built-in periodic reassessments of cost and feasibility will protect Austin residents and businesses from runaway energy costs that are so typical of large-scale nuclear construction projects. San Antonio residents need to see the same protections.

As Austin’s process clearly shows, CPS Energy can be much more inclusive and transparent. Public Citizen is grateful that the members of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee can step in and act as responsible figures in this process.

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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.

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Attention: Green businesses and Austinites!

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2010 |

If you were as frustrated as I was watching world leaders dither in Copenhagen while the Earth heats up and island nations continue making evacuation plans, there is good news on the horizon for Austin.

Austin Energy has developed a consensus plan that would establish our own CO2 cap and reduction plan. The great news is that by 2020, Austin’s investments in solar, wind and energy efficiency would allow us to reduce our dependence on the Fayette coal plant by nearly 30 percent! This energy plan will also bring a wide variety of jobs to the city, from innovative clean technology companies to installation, retrofit and construction jobs.

We need support to pass the plan now!

Public Citizen has helped form a coalition called Clean Energy for Austin. We’ve brought together businesses large and small, from Applied Materials to Greenling Organic Delivery, and 12 nonprofits such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund to call on City Council to pass the energy plan.

The more individuals and businesses that join the coalition, the stronger the message to City Hall that our world-renowned green city must remain a leader in reducing pollution and creating a green economy.

Sign on as an endorser of Clean Energy for Austin!

Thanks,

Matt Johnson

Some background: This fall, I had the privilege of representing Public Citizen on the city’s task force charged with analyzing Austin Energy’s 2020 plan and making additional recommendations. We voted unanimously to upgrade Austin Energy’s energy efficiency goal, create a special self-sustaining market for local renewable power like solar rooftops and parking lots, and protect consumers’ pocketbooks by conducting periodic reviews in case costs change dramatically.

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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.

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EPA: They did it, they did it, they did it, yeah!

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2010 |

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.

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Year in Review: Solar Power

Posted in Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 6, 2010 |

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.

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EPA to Announce New Air Quality Standard Limiting Ozone Pollution

Posted in Coal, Energy, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 6, 2010 |

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.

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Recap: Roll Beyond Coal Tour

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2009 |

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.

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Austin has a dirty secret Happy Hour Wednesday

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 17, 2009 |

Wednesday afternoon from 5-7 pm, let’s get together to discuss how to make Austin’s Dirty Secret a secret no more! Join us at Spider House for our group’s first ever happy hour meet-up (complete with dirty drink specials!). We’ll discuss our plans for convincing City Council to phase out Fayette by 2020 or earlier and get to know each other over beer/coffee/food. Look for us in the back near the moving screening area.  And RSVP on the facebook event page so we have a rough head count!

See you there!

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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.

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Spooky Fun Rallies in 5 Texas Cities on Saturday, October 31

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2009 |

Texans Concerned about Clean Air and Building the new Green Jobs Economy ROLL BEYOND COAL across Texas this Halloween — Fun Events on Saturday, October 31

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGyzVLK8yz8]

WHO: Public Officials, Businesses, Sierra Club and their Environmental Partners such as Public Citizen, and Bicycling Communities across Texas

WHAT: Roll Beyond Coal Rallies, Bike Rides, & Hikes for Clean Power, Green Jobs, & Clean Air

WHEN: Saturday, October 31, 2009

WHERE:

ALPINE 10 am, Kokernot Lodge, 1104 Loop Road, http://texas.sierraclub.org/bigbend/index.html

AUSTIN 1:00 Music and Rally on the Plaza at City Hall, Lavaca & W. Cesar Chavez. 2:00 Clean Energy Bike Tour (5 and 9 mile options) and Hikes. 3:00 – 5:00 After Party at Gingerman Pub, 301 Lavaca Street. http://www.texas.sierraclub.org/austin

BEAUMONT 8:00 am in the Colonnade Shopping Center at Dowlen Road & Phelan Blvd. We will offer a 7.3 mile route or you can choose the extended 14.1 mile route. http://texas.sierraclub.org/triangle/index.html

CORPUS CHRISTI Noon – 1:00 PM Registration, 1:00 Festival, 1:30 Bike fun ride begins (observe all traffic signs and signals), 1:35 PM Rollers and Strollers roll, 2:30-4:00 Rally http://www.cleaneconomycoalition.org/rbc

DALLAS Registration: 8:30 am. Bike ride: 10:30 am. White Rock Lake at The Bath House Cultural Center on 521 E. Lawther Drive in Dallas. Prizes to be given for the best Halloween and Clean Air costumes! Free Basic Bike Check-ups on site. http://www.dallassierraclub.org/

WHY: Public officials, Sierra Club activists, their environmental partners, and bicycling communities across Texas are bringing to light the serious problem of the second wave of the Texas Coal Rush.

In Rallies to Roll Beyond Coal and Clean Energy Bike Rides, and Hikes, Texans concerned about clean air and building a new green, clean energy economy are asking the EPA to take bold action by intervening on that freaky, frightening Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

There will be costumed riders and plenty of information about the current Second Wave of the Texas coal rush which is cresting this winter with 11 new coal plants in various stages of the permitting process, permitted, under construction, or coming on line. Texans from diverse walks of life are rallying at Roll Beyond Coal events for Halloween fun with a seriously scary message! There is a glimmer of hope in this tale!

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Participate in an anti-coal demonstration at Austin City Council meeting Thursday!

Posted in Coal, Energy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2009 |

coal killsWith the Day of the Dead just around the corner, it’s the time of year to remember friends and family members who have died. That’s why we’ve decided to hold a demonstration at City Hall on Thursday at noon, wearing black, to recognize those who have died from complications related to living around the City of Austin’s coal plant.

Burning coal to create electricity has a high human cost. From childhood asthma to aggravated heart and respiratory problems, living downwind of a coal plant can take years off of your life. If you are a six year old or even a strapping adult with asthma and unlucky enough to live near a coal plant to boot, that is enough to send you to the emergency room on a regular basis. Individuals with heart conditions are in the same boat. And mercury emissions from the coal stacks that power our city find their way into waterways and are known to cause birth defects. A recently updated study by the Clean Air Task Force finds that our Fayette Coal Plant causes an average of fifty deaths each year.

City Council must take these considerations into account when planning our future energy mix. Why should others in the state of Texas die or live with crippling health problems when cleaner alternatives exist?

So come to City Hall at noon on Tuesday to show City Council your support for a clean energy plan that would phase out the coal plant as quickly as possible. Wear black in some way, and meet at 11:50 in the lobby so that we can coordinate. Parking at city hall is free on council meeting days. Please RSVP or contact Ryan Rittenhouse at 512-477-1155 with any questions.

Please also spread the word to similarly concerned friends and invite them to the “Austin has a dirty secret” facebook group so that they can be in the loop for future events or demonstrations.

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