This just in from the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON – Author and activist Van Jones will be a special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation in the Obama administration.
Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a release Monday that Jones will start work next week to help direct the administration’s efforts to create jobs and help the environment. Sutley said Jones will work on “vulnerable communities.”
Jones founded Green for All, a national organization that promises environmentally friendly jobs to help lift people out of poverty. He wrote the New York Times best-seller “The Green Collar Economy.”
Anyone who heard Van Jones’ keynote address at our Texas Energy Future conference knows what fantastic news it is that this man now has the ear of the President and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. At the conference Van Jones gave an amazing speech to a packed house on the potential of the new green economy. For a taste of the kind of green jobs messaging the Obama Administration will hear from now on, check out this trailer — courtesy of Texas Impact.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvGRWZDShPc]
For the full speech, check out the streaming google video after the jump. (more…)
This afternoon the Austin City Council moved unanimously to approve Item 16 on the agenda, the purchasing power agreement with Gemini Solar Development Company to build a 30 MW solar plant at the Webberville tract. That means that by the end of 2011, Austin should be the proud home of the nation’s largest utility scale photovoltaic installation. This is a tremendous milestone for both the City and Austin Energy that will set us up as a leader in solar energy, create jobs, attract industry, and protect our citizens from volatile future energy prices while curbing our global warming emissions.
The Houston Chronicle ran an Op-Ed Sunday entitled 
Powershift 2009 
The Judge heard the rest of the people that were in the room, and any individuals who could not come back at a later time. Then a recess was called until the afternoon to reconvene at the Del Mar College Center for Ecological Development.
Last Friday two administrative law judges refused to hear testimony on the impact of carbon dioxide emissions during the permitting process for the NRG Limestone coal-fired power plant. The contested case hearing for NRG’s air quality permit application will be going on all week long, but testimony on the proposed plant’s contribution to global warming will not be allowed. The judges decided that the TCEQ has adopted clear policies that they would not consider testimony on the issue, even though the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 (
In protest, local environmentalists gathered for an 8:30 a.m. protest Monday Feb 22 outside the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Groups supporting the protest included: Public Citizen, SEED Coalition, Environment Texas, Clean Water Action, Re- Energize Texas, and the Texas Climate Emergency Campaign.
To prevent Texas Vox from being flooded by pictures of all the cool stuff we’re up to, Public Citizen Texas has created 
Join Public Citizen and the other 
As expected, the Austin City Council made the decision to delay the vote on Austin Energy’s proposed solar plant until March 5th. Council Member Mike Martinez wanted to put it off longer, but since the bid for the plant will actually expire just seven days after this March meeting, the council agreed unanimously to have the final vote in three weeks time.
Feb 11, 2009
Today the House and Senate are working to reconcile their different versions of the long-awaited economic stimulus package. The stakes are now higher than ever for Texans, who stand to gain from billions that could go toward developing renewable energy and efficiency in the state, reducing pollution from diesel engines, and cleaning up abandoned nuclear waste sites.
Hey Look! A press release from SEED Coalition and Public Citizen:
Senator Fraser was the first legislator to speak, proclaiming that this would be Texas’ solar session. Chairman of the Business and Commerce Committee, Fraser is well positioned to be an effective solar champion. As such, Fraser was particularly proud to forecast a sunny session for solar power. He joked that there are so many solar bills being filed this session, they are going to have to lay them all out at once and have a “solar day” where they can pick out the best bills and key components of each (this is the second time I’ve heard him say this though, so he may be serious. If so, you better bet I’ll be there with bells on!)
Senator Van de Putte was then called up to champion CPS Energy’s new distributed energy commitment and her own solar in schools bill, 
