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Posts Tagged ‘Dallas Morning News’

Dewhurst backing off his old coal shutdown position

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Global Warming, natural gas, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2011 |

After Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst‘s remarks, made during his session-opening luncheon just a week ago,  about his plans to push for “regulatory and fiscal incentives” to phase out the heavy-polluting coal plants that were built back to the 1970s and replace them with natural gas plants, the Lt. Governor is now back pedalling saying he’s NOT pushing for fast shutdown of Texas’ aging or inefficient coal-fired power plants.  Instead, he wants to gradually increasing the use of cleaner-burning, Texas natural gas through market-based incentives.dewhurst (coal vs gas)

Dewhurst backed off his earlier stance after the Dallas Morning News suggested the plan would mean lights out for Texas, since those old plants account for some 8,300 megawatts.

Coal vs gas could be yet another controversy as the 2011 session heats up. There’s pressure from the EPA and elsewhere for Texas to lower its pollution levels, and the feds show little sign of backing away from their efforts to regulated greenhouse gas emissions.

One thing is obvious, Dewhurst doesn’t want to caught in crossfire of the coal vs. gas battle.  Instead, he is falling back on standard industry language, meant to placate everyone.  “In order to meet our current energy demands and fuel our economy, Texas will continue to rely on the use of coal, wind, nuclear and solar power, in addition to natural gas, as part of our diversified energy portfolio.”

Oh for the days when occasionally a politician would take a position – right or wrong, popular or unpopular – and stand by it.

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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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Dallas Morning News Editorial: Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2010 |

This editorial from the Dallas Morning News is a little bit old news, responding to Governor Perry’s lawsuit against the EPA’s endangerment finding about carbon dioxide, BUT I really like the message that clean air vs. jobs is a false choice.  Because everything we would have to do to create a new clean economy, is a JOB. Windmills don’t manufacture themselves, solar panels aren’t going to get up on the roof unless someone bolts them there, and weatherstripping isn’t going to take it off without an audience protect your house from air conditioning leaks unless someone gets in there and give you an energy audit. So, better late than never: read on!

Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice

Sure, it buttresses his campaign theme, casting him as the protector of Texas jobs against employment-crippling federal environmental mandates. And Perry is right when he says Texas has a lot a stake.

But his approach is troublingly shortsighted. The lawsuit relies on thinking about the state’s past, not its future, and it falsely pits jobs against clean air. Instead of opposing the tougher air quality rules, Austin would be wise to focus instead on how best to be a leader in a less carbon-dependent economy.

Our state emits up to 35 percent of all greenhouse gases released by industrial sources in the United States, and the state’s energy sector remains a prominent generator of jobs. So it’s vital that Texas work on two tracks simultaneously – clean air and clean jobs.

Efforts to buck the shift won’t save jobs, but rather will tether Texas to 20th-century jobs in the 21st century and, thus, have considerable negative consequences on the state’s long-term economic health. Dirty air endangers health and also kills jobs, as California learned the hard way.

Texas’ legal gymnastics also are odd because the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases has already been decided. (more…)

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Dallas Morning News Editorial: Texas, a state of denial on pollution rules

Posted in Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2010 |

Great editorial in the Dallas Morning News this weekend. We couldn’t agree more 🙂

Editorial: Texas, a state of denial on pollution rules

To the surprise of no one, the Environmental Protection Agency announced tougher ozone limits this week. The move to tighten pollution standards had long been anticipated as evidence mounted to illustrate the serious health risks associated with smog exposure.

In Texas, a state with notoriously dirty air, the appropriate response from leaders would be to get to work. Significant changes must be made to comply with federal rules – not to mention, to protect the people who live here.

But instead of getting started, too many state leaders just got angry. They seemed shocked – shocked! – that the EPA would dare abide by the science showing significant consequences of allowing a less stringent standard.

Gov. Rick Perry stuck with his three-pronged approach to environmental regulations: deny, deflect, pout.

In his statement, the governor denied the need for tougher ozone limits, somehow conflating smog rules with carbon dioxide regulations and suggesting that flawed science spurred this week’s announcement.

In fact, scientists have found that ozone exposure damages our lungs and is linked to heart and respiratory illnesses. Smog can be deadly. By lumping ozone standards in with climate change legislation, Perry only confuses the issue.

The governor also deflected suggestions that the state has less than pristine air. He focused on Texas’ modest anti-pollution efforts, ignoring the fact that our skies are still dangerously dirty.

And Perry pouted, arguing that the EPA has made Texas workers and taxpayers a target. Some of Perry’s allies have echoed that idea, asserting that the new administration has been hostile to the state.

The EPA is not picking on Texas.

The same pollution standards will apply to every state. Inhaling smog-choked air is a dicey proposition, no matter where folks live.

Admittedly, complying with the new rules will be tougher for Texas than many other states. That’s because years of plugging our ears, closing our eyes and pretending that new pollution rules weren’t looming did not leave Texas in a state of preparedness.

Implementing the lower ozone limits will come at a cost. But, the EPA notes, the new rules should yield comparable savings by reducing illnesses, emergency room visits and lost work days resulting from ozone-related symptoms.

The state now must get started on a serious ozone reduction strategy. Deny, deflect, pout doesn’t seem to be working.

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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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Dallas Journalist Shares “6 things economists wish journalists knew about greenhouse gas reduction”

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2009 |

Dallas Morning News journalist Elizabeth Souder shares the Six things economists wish journalists knew about greenhouse gas reduction on the DMN’ Energy and Environment Blog.  They sound a lot like the 6 things EVERYONE should know about greenhouse gas reduction, so I thought I’d share them.  Kudos to Elizabeth Souder, and be sure to keep up with her work on the Energy and Environment Blog.

I’m attending the McCormick Energy Solutions Conference for journalists this week at Ohio State University. Andy Keeler, an economist with the John Glenn School of Public Affairs here at the university, offered six things journalist should know about greenhouse gas reduction.

1. It makes economic sense to reduce greenhouse gases. Even though doing so costs money, it will end up costing us even more if we do nothing. Dealing with the effects of global warming, of seeing Texas and the Southwest become a dustbowl, could be financially devastating.

2. Cap and trade, which is the method Congess is considering to regulate greenhouse gases, does two distinct things. By issuing tradable allowances for greenhouse gas emissions, the system raises the price of energy produced from greenhouse gas-heavy fossil fuels. It also generates revenue for the government by selling those allowances, and the money can be used for anything.

“Criticism of cap and trade which mixes these two together is deliberately misleading,” Keeler said.

3. Cap and trade creates broad and efficient incentives. Using market signals as part of our response to climate change risk is good public policy.

4. Who gets the money the government makes by selling allowances is a public expenditures question, not an environmental question.

5. A carbon tax and a cap and trade program have strong similarities. But the details of the program are more important than the choice between the two.

Keeler concludes that, even though economists tend to agree that a tax is cleaner and more elegant than a system of trading allowances, the current bill includes reasonable goals. Therefore, rather than starting from scratch and renegotiating the cap, which leads to a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and an 80 percent cut by 2050, Keeler prefers to stick with the current bill.

6. Trade and competitiveness concerns exist, but are neither broad nor large. The bill could have significant effects on the iron, steel, aluminum, cement and paper industries, but those problems could be solved with targeted rules, rather than broad regulations.

“It’s not to belittle the problem for people in these industries, but it’s misleading to cast it as an overall disaster from a trade point of view,” he said.

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Recommended Reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2009 |

Here are some interesting articles I’ve read this week, which I think are well worth reading in full.

recommended-readingTexas is taking a greater interest in global warming by Randy Lee Loftis at the Dallas Morning News

The Fight Plan for Clean Air by Kate Galbraith and Felicity Barringer, New York Times (word on the street that EPA will declare heat-trapping gases dangerous pollutants, keep your fingers crossed)

Solar’s time to shine in Texas? by Bill Dawson at Texas Climate News

The Fresh Prince of Clean Air: Prince Charles says financial crisis is ‘nothing’ compared to climate change, at Grist

Last chance for a slow dance? All the world fiddles as we near global warming’s point of no return by Greg Harman at the San Antonio Current — digg it up

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Texas Tops List of States at Risk From Toxic Coal Ash Waste

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2009 |

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, discusses a bill that would monitor coal waste at a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Paul Chouy at The Daily Texan

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, discusses a bill that would monitor coal waste at a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Paul Chouy at The Daily Texan

A while back we held a press conference to highlight the scale of Texas’ coal combustion waste problem. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently released a report which found that Texas is the worst state in the nation in terms of toxic coal-ash waste that will result from proposed dirty coal-fired power plants.  I could tell you all about it, or let the media that picked up the story speak for themselves.  Today I am le tired and pick door number two.

So here it is, all the news that’s fit to link:

Lawmakers search for cleaner, safer ways to deal with excess coal waste,” by Matt Stephens with The Daily Texan

Environmental agency says Texas leads nation in production of coal ash waste,” by Randy Loftis at the Dallas Morning News

You can also watch a video of the press conference, courtesy of the House Archived Broadcasts.  Look for the link at 3/12/09 titled “Press Conference – Coal Combustion Waste – Sponsored by Rep. Rodriguez.” Check it out to hear Texas State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) discuss his bill, HB 1450, which would improve the regulation of coal combustion waste, and to hear Travis Brown, president of Neighbors for Neighbors, speak about the danger coal combustion waste represents to human and environmental health.

NRDC’s new coal combustion waste site, launched along with the report, is also worth checking out.  If you find the dropdown to see Texas’ state specific profile, you can find a map of existing and proposed coal plants in Texas as well as a statistical breakdown of the coal waste and toxic metals from existing and proposed plants.  Scary stuff.

And of course, if you really, really want it… you can read the press release after the jump.

(more…)

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Aww, Shucks!

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , on December 17, 2008 |

The Dallas Morning News wrote a sweet editorial last week lauding Public Citizen’s efforts to require that Luminant abide by stricter mercury emissions standards at the new Oak Grove coal-fired power plant under construction near Waco:

When authorities failed to require Luminant, formerly TXU, to abide by stricter federal emissions standards at a coal-fired power plant under construction near Waco, the Sierra Club and another watchdog group, Public Citizen, had to step in.

The groups threatened to sue Luminant when it got a pass from state environmental regulators to use more relaxed, older pollution standards at its two-unit Oak Grove power plant near Waco instead of following tighter new restrictions for mercury emissions…

Clearly, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen meant business with their lawsuit, bolstered by a federal appeals court ruling in February that said the Environmental Protection Agency had to enforce mandatory cuts for mercury emissions at power plants, as the Clean Air Act requires. Mandatory means companies like Luminant can’t regard compliance as optional or arguable.

The lawsuit would have proved costly and could have delayed next year’s scheduled opening of Oak Grove, so Luminant worked out a deal to ensure that its emissions stay within Clean Air Act limits. Luminant promises to control mercury emissions using “maximum achievable control technology,” but if it still exceeds limits, the Oak Grove plant could be forced to curtail operations.

If this is what it takes to make Luminant and other polluting power companies abide by the law, at least Texans can breathe easier knowing they’re in compliance. We still look forward to the day when coercion is replaced by cooperation in the effort to clean up the air we breathe. Until then, watchdog groups deserve praise and support for making sure pollution standards are respected – and enforced.

Oh, stop it, Dallas Morning News!  You’re making us blush! Many thanks to the editorial board for giving credit where credit is due.  It sure is nice to feel appreciated 🙂

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