Posted in Tarsands, tagged Keystone Pipeline, republicans, Texas, United States Senate on March 8, 2012 |
According to CNN, the Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-sponsored measure Thursday that would have bypassed the Obama administration’s current objections to the Keystone XL pipeline and allowed construction on the controversial project to move forward immediately.
Fifty-six senators voted in favor of the amendment — four short of the 60 required for approval.
Click here to read CNN’s coverage
Posted in Nuclear, tagged Nuclear Power, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, republicans, Texas on November 21, 2010 |
In an article by New York Times reporter, MATTHEW L. WALD he writes, the outspoken supporters of nuclear power are mostly Republicans, and the Republicans are about to take control of the House of Representatives and gain six seats in the Senate. Is this good news for nuclear power?
Maybe. But the outlook for a new wave of reactors is still mixed at best.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
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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 Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged citizens united, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Democratic Party (United States), federal election commission, Public Citizen, republicans, Supreme Court of the United States, Texas, United States on October 27, 2010 |
Cross-posted from our mother blog at CitizenVox. We don’t normally cross-post much because we’d prefer you to read their blog just as much as ours, but if you’re not, please add them to your rss feed now!
Of the $176.1 million spent by outside groups using large, often undisclosed contributions to influence the current elections, just 10 groups are responsible for the bulk of the spending, according to a new analysis released today by Public Citizen.
What’s more, 59.9 percent of the money comes from undisclosed sources. Of those contributions that have been disclosed, nearly two-thirds has come from just 0.12 percent of the contributors. The analysis of data from Public Citizen’s Stealth PACs database shows that:
“Outside group funding is shaking the foundations of our electoral democracy, but the situation is far worse than it seems at first blush,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “A tiny number of organizations, relying on a tiny number of corporate and fat cat contributors, are spending most of the money on the vicious attack ads dominating the airwaves. The vast majority of donors remain hidden behind a veil of secrecy, in many cases of doubtful legality. The biggest surge in funding will come in the next week. And this election cycle’s spending is merely a prelude to something far worse in 2012. The trigger for all this was the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United; the key to repairing our democracy is a constitutional amendment to undo the decision.”
The analysis includes charts identifying the groups spending the most to influence this year’s elections, the groups engaged in the most contests, the races that have been the subject of the most outside spending and the contests focused on by the independent groups that have sprung up in the past two weeks.
The Stealth PACs site allows users to search the expenditures and limited contribution data of independent groups that are intervening in this year’s elections using contributions of more than $5,000 or undisclosed contributions.
The site also enumerates the outside groups’ expenditures on each race, discloses the vendors and other recipients of expenditures of $1,000 or more, and provides links to the FEC filings on expenditure data.
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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 abbott, Barnett shale, bill white, bryan, coalition for life, college station, david dewhurst, Democrat Bill White, democrats, drilling reform, health care, perry, republicans, rob curnock, south texas chisme, Texas, texas cloverleaf, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round on March 29, 2010 |
Why not enjoy these posts from the Texas Progressive Alliance along with the beautiful spring weather?
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees vast differences between Perry, his bud David Dewhurst and Democrat Bill White. Democrats are for a robust public education while Republicans are doing their darnedest to kill it.
Are you playing the Barnett Shale economic shell game? Learn the rules at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS before you play.
The Texas Cloverleaf commentary on Congressional GOP members behaving like grown ups, if grown ups were 4 years old
Off the Kuff took a look at voting trends in Texas’ fastest-growing counties. Hint: They getting bluer.
The week at Left of College Station, Teddy reports on the Coalition for Life possibly being in conflict with itself 501(c) 3 status by appearing connected to the Rob Curnock for Congress campaign. Left of College Station also takes a first look at the candidates for College Station mayor, and this week will take a first look at the candidates for Bryan mayor.
Libby Shaw updates us on GoodHair and companies reaction to HCR. It is not pretty. Perry and Abbott On Crusade to Block Health Care Benefits for Texans
Neil at Texas Liberal visited a Walgreen’s in suburban Chicago in the week just past. While there he took a picture of chocolate praying hands and of a chocolate cross that are on sale for easter. Maybe these items are for people who adhere to the Chocolate God Theory.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson chronicles the fact that after the Democrats passed a historic health care bill the GOP went Crazy over health care.
Randy Noogie-Booger, the West Texas Congress critter who yelled “Baby killer!” during the debate on healthcare reform last week, was profiled by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
Bay Area Houston writes about When Teabaggers Become Terrorist
WhosPlayin, like a lot of other progressive bloggers this week, had thoughts on the historic passage of health care insurance reform.
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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 bill white, brains and eggs, bryan, burnt orange report, chamber of commerce, college station, dallas, democrats, EPA, eye on williamson, health care, homeowners insurance, lakeisha rogers, left of college station, lewisville, louis gohmert, march madness, off the kuff, phillip martin, proposed ozone standards, public hearing, republicans, rick green, Rick Perry, school districts, school finance, south texas chisme, tax dodging, tea bagger, Teddy, Texas, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round, texas supreme court, texas-mexico border, texaskaos, txsharon on March 22, 2010 |
The Texas Progressive Alliance’s weekly blog roundup will reach 32 million more Americans regardless of their pre-existing conditions.
Last week, TXsharon made a video statement at the EPA Public Hearing on the proposed ozone standards.
Who Needs a Proctologist when you have former State Representative Rick Green running for the Texas Supreme Court?
This week on Left of College Station, (more…)
Posted in Energy, solar, tagged 82nd legislature, carrollton, dallas, democrats, distributed energy, energy future holdings, environment texas, farmers branch, females, green jobs, hispanics, incentives, irving, jobs, legislator of the year, males, manufacturing, market development, mccall johnson, oncor, Public Citizen, public utility commission, PUC, rafael anchia, republicans, retail electric providers, silicon, solar, solar power, solarcity, Texas, TXU on March 12, 2010 |
Great joint op-ed by our friend McCall Johnson over at Environment Texas and State Rep. Rafael Anchia, winner of Public Citizen’s Legislator of the Year award. Following on the heels of TXU’s announcement last week that it will offer customers an affordable solar leasing program, the gist of it is that we can’t let the momentum for solar wane whenever the program’s money runs out. Sounds like Rep. Anchia may have some ideas for a legislative fix, check it out… (more…)
Posted in Global Warming, tagged asbestos, Barnett shale, bay area houston, benzene, bluedaze, bob perry, brazos county, democrats, denton creek watershed, drilling reform, EPA, eye on williamson, health care, kay bailey hutchison, left of college station, lewisville isd, mccain, off the kuff, poll, primary day, republicans, Rick Perry, south texas chisme, teabaggers, Texas, texas a&m, texas cloverleaf, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round, texas supreme court, williamson county on March 1, 2010 |
The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for Primary Day and reminds all of you to vote if you haven’t already. Here is your Primary Day roundup.
From the Barnett Shale, TXsharon announces a new “Watchdog” for drillers and her SOS to EPA about benzene and other dangerous toxins in the Denton Creek Watershed was heard. The EPA has responded! Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS
After the latest prevarication on her date of departure from the Senate, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs opines: “Kay Bailey, won’t you please GO HOME?!”
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme shows the Texas Supreme Court flipping the finger to Texans, yet again.
Bay Area Houston highlights yet more hypocrisy from Rick Perry with his I Came and Took it! teabagging campaign.
At WhosPlayin the recent discussion has centered around equity in the Lewisville ISD. It looks like the district may be taking a big step by considering a tear-down and rebuild of the district’s oldest high school after costs for asbestos remediation and fire sprinkler installation in the old building went too high. Construction is not equity, though, and there are still issues to be addressed.
Over at McBlogger, Mayor McSleaze takes a look at the Republican HD 47 primary fight and finds it almost as entertaining as an old-fashioned pie fight.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison changes her story again about when she might leave the Senate. Off the Kuff has lost count of how many times this has happened.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson has a round up of the campaign cash and who’s giving in Williamson County, Bob Perry looms large in Williamson County GOP House races.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the early voting turnout in Denton County and the GOP surge.
This week on Left of College Station, Teddy makes the case for Brazos County Democrats to vote in the Republican primary, and releases the Left of College Station Democratic primary candidate endorsements. Left of College Station also covers the debate in the Texas A&M Student Senate over the anti-discrimination policy.
Pollchecker , over at TexasKaos calls out McCain on using Texas health care as an example of “success”. And he wonders why he is not president?
Neil at Texas Liberal offered up his 2010 Democratic Primary slate. Neil also noted that Texas Liberal passed one million page views. Thanks to everybody who has read the blog.
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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 Afghanistan, bay area houston, bill white, bluebloggin, boss kitty, brains and eggs, couldbetrue, david benzion, democratic party, democrats, drilling, drilling reform, drilling toxins, eye on williamson, galveston, governor's race, houston mayor, iraq, korean war, left of college station, liberaltexan, natural gas, nueces county, nytexan, obama, off the kuff, oil and gas wells, pdiddie, politics, prison system, race, renewable energy, republican party, republicans, south texas chisme, Texas, texas cloverleaf, texas governor, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round, Texas Railroad Commission, texaskaos, three wise men, truthhugger, txsharon, vietnam war, war in Afghanistan, wcnews, weekly round up, whosplayin, xanthippas on December 7, 2009 |
Once again it’s time for the Texas Progressive Alliance to bring you the highlights from the blogs.
Xanthippas at Three Wise Men airs out some thoughts on the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and some painful lessons learned blogging about the war in Iraq.
Bay Area Houston claims The Race for Houston Mayor is Now About Race.
Texas is the first state to conduct testing of citizens to determine if their health symptoms are caused from exposure to drilling toxins. But TXsharon is not sure this is such a great idea. Find out why on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
BossKitty at TruthHugger sees a political disconnect between incarceration and rehabilitation within America’s “big business prison system”. Follow through and accountability are casualties of creative budgeting in the criminal justice system with furlough programs, commutations and pardons BACKLASH. Maurice Clemmons was but a single example of a mentally unstable felon. Where was his follow up? Where was his parole officer? Where was the mental health infrastructure that could have defused this violent explosion?
Neil at Texas Liberal asked who are the Democrats running for Houston municipal offices in the runoff election, and who among the Democrats is someone a liberal can support. The post also features pictures and paintings of scenes of gambling as any election is little more than a spin of the wheel.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees tea parties and general batsh*t craziness in Nueces County with Club for Growth guy leading the Republican Party.
Teddy at Left of College Station covers the political maneuvering in local Republican primaries, and writes about Obama’s War: Choosing Escalation and Occupation. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.
nytexan at Bluebloggin clearly states “I’m Sick of War.” As I listen to Obama’s speech to increase troops in Afghanistan, all I can think of is, the US has been in some kind of war my entire life. Just so you know, I was born between the Korean War and the Vietnam War. We are a war nation. No way to get around it.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about a conversation over Thanksgiving weekend with two Houston Republicans, or Why Bill White can win.
This was Dickens on the Strand weekend in Galveston and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs took a break from politics and spent the weekend on the island. Here are a few photos from the festival.
Charles of Off the Kuff spent much of the week engaged in an email debate on the Texas Tribune with conservative blogger David Benzion over the merits of Bill White as Mayor of Houston and potentially Governor of Texas.
liberaltexan reports on Political Maneuvering Begins in Republican Primaries. It seems that the race for Texas State Senate District Five is gettting compicated. Check it out at TexasKaos.
The Texas Cloverleaf offered it’s prediction on whether Bill White would run for Governor. 1-0! Yes!
WhosPlayin thinks the Texas Railroad Commission is on a ‘power trip’, intervening in the placement of power lines bringing renewable energy to Texas population centers – ostensibly because the lines might cross over abandoned oil and gas wells, or land that might be used for oil and gas wells in the future. *** Citizen Sarah says, an excellent read!!
Posted in Global Warming, tagged bay area houston, bill white, bluedaze, bosskitty, brains and eggs, couldbetrue, drilling reform, eye on williamson, galveston, governor perry, houston mayor's race, lewisville isd, libby shaw, moby dick, off the kuff, republicans, road rage, Shaw Texas Republican Lawmakers Lose Huge Federal Contract, south texas chisme, Texas, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round, texas public information act, texaskaos, three wise men, truthhugger, txsharon, wcnews, whosplayin, xanthippas on November 30, 2009 |
The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes everyone back from the Thanksgiving Holiday with these highlights from the blogs.
TXsharon has arranged by area 60 TCEQ fugitive emission videos obtained via the Texas Public Information Act. The videos were taken throughout the Barnett Shale area using a GasFindIR (Infrared) camera. Find the videos for your area at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS to see what you’re breathing.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why some destroyed Galveston beach houses were paid out at prices nearly double their county appraised value.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is fed up with Road Rage and wants it taken a more seriously by the authorities. Road Rage is indeed vehicular terrorism! Vehicular terrorism is dismissed by the court system as misdemeanors with token consequences … unless of course someone gets killed. Even then is not identified for what it really is. Vehicular Terrorism! Is Road Rage is a way of life for Texans?.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on Gov. Perry’s “jet-set” ways? A Watchdog group wants to know about Gov. Perry’s travel expenses.
Bay Area Houston lists who the local bloggers are endorsing in the Houston Mayor’s race. (It is one sided)
Off the Kuff rounds up reactions to Bill White’s announcement that he is considering a jump into the Governor’s race.
Libby Shaw Texas Republican Lawmakers Lose Huge Federal Contract examines the why’s and who’s of the huge government contract Perry and the Boyz just lost and what it means for Texas. Check it out at TexasKaos.
Neil at Texas Liberal ran a post about Moby Dick. We Are All Shipmates—Moby Dick. This post offers up a picture of the excellent ship pulpit featured in the book and movie adaptations of the book. Neil reminds you that we are all shipmates.
WhosPlayin is still watching Lewisville ISD and wishing they would just answer a simple question.
Maybe the BAE Systems plant in Sealy, which lost its $2.6 billion Pentagon contract due to the economic incompetence of Rick Perry and other Republican elected officials, can now manufacture “Republic of Texas” trucks, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
Xanthippas at Three Wise Men takes a look at the results of a study that demonstrate how conservative anti-tax rhetoric has resulted in a substantial shift of the nation’s burden from the wealthy to the lower and middle-class, and wonders what that means in an age when irresponsible investors crash the economy, are bailed out by the federal government and reward themselves with billions of dollars in bonuses.
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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 bay area houston, bloggers, bluedaze, chesapeake energy, City Council, democrats, drilling reform, eye on williamson, fort worth, gene locke, houston, human rights, john carter, lewisville isd, mayoral candidates, mcblogger, media, pay to play, progressive coalition, quizas, republicans, Rick Perry, school board, socialism, south texas chisme, tabc, Texas, texas cloverleaf, texas kaos, texas liberal, texas progressive alliance, traditional media, weekly round up, whosplayin, world series on October 26, 2009 |
The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for the start of the World Series, and it presents to you its weekly highlight reel as we await the first pitch.
quizas of South Texas Chisme wonders about the US detaining a Mexican human rights activist.
WWJD on Carter Avenue? TXsharon wants to know if Chesapeake Energy or anyone in Fort Worth government has stopped to consider the answer to that question. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
Bay Area Houston wonders if the Hispanic community will dump their endorsement of Gene Locke.
WhosPlayin lost a fight with the Lewisville ISD, whose board voted unanimously to define media as print and broadcast only and give itself permission to shut out bloggers. (includes video of meeting)
The Texas Cloverleaf picks up on the “Pay to Play” system, alive and while with Rick Perry and the TABC.
Problems for the Democrats in 2010? Harry Balczak at McBlogger uncovers something that says that’s what we’re exactly heading toward.
Dembones at Eye On Williamson Posts on TX-31 Rep. John Carter’s latest hypocrisy Carter’s income disclosure problem spoils GOP tactic.
Progressive Coalition candidates for Houston city council (and a Socialist running for mayor) are the subject of PDiddie’s post at Brains and Eggs.
Neil at Texas Liberal suggested that voters in Houston consider Progressive Coalition candidates running for Houston City Council. It is hard to see how voting for Democrats year-after-year in city elections has been of great benefit to the people of Houston.
Over at Texas Kaos, libbyshaw provides a public service by providing a Republican hypocrisy score card. Check out her Texas GOP Hall of Hypocrites. You can’t tell the hyprocrites without a scorecard. Wait, you can almost. If there is an “R” beside their names, the odds are better than even….
Off the Kuff notes that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between Democrats and the Harris County Tax Assessor’s office over allegations of voter suppression.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beverly kaufman, burnt orange report, democrats, denton county, dish texas, equality, harris county clerk, houston asian mayoral forum, left of college station, lgbt issues, native americans, natural gas drilling, off the kuff, public health, public option, republicans, rhode island, roger williams, south texas chisme, Texas, texas progressive alliance, trans-texas corridor on October 12, 2009 |
The Texas Progressive Alliance is enjoying the fall weather too much to think of a clever opening to this week’s blog roundup.
This week on Left of College Station, Teddy writes about what it is like to share a birthday with a war and how we have been unable to learn from the mistakes we have made during the last eight years. In the weekly guest column about teaching in Aggieland, Litia writes about the reasons why they are a teacher. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notices that Republicans running Texas agencies don’t care whether doctors are bad as long as you can’t sue.
WhosPlayin investigated complaints by parents that schools were allowing church groups on campus during lunch hour to proselytize, while preventing parents from accessing their kids.
Communities all across the nation are watching DISH, Texas to learn how natural gas drilling is threatening our health but TXsharon wants to be sure you don’t forget about the public meeting Monday, October 12th at 7:00PM.
Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about a 17th-Century book by Rhode Island founder Roger Williams that was ahead of its time in offering respect for Native Americans and women.
The Texas Cloverleaf watches as Denton County comes out for LGBT equality.
Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog provides detailed coverage of the Houston Asian American Mayoral Forum.
Off the Kuff notes that at least some conservative candidates are not interested in learning from the mistakes of others.
Over at McBlogger, Captain Kroc takes a look at the latest GOP plot to make people think they actually care about the poor.
Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman announced her retirement, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs threw the names of a few Democratic and Republican potential successors into the rumor mill.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson TxDOT again says the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is dead, but How many times will the TTC die?.
Over at Texas Kaos, libby shaw asks: Republicans Are On Board with Corporate Communism?. They can’t make up their minds, but it is sadly funny to read about.
Burnt Orange Report explores the value, or lack thereof, of proposing an opt-out of the public option as a strategy to pass the health care bill out of the U.S. Senate.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bryan, ciro rodriguez, climate bill, climate change, college station, david dewhurst, debra medina, democrats, fire, gas drilling, gop, governor perry, john carter, kay bailey hutchison, kbh, lewisville, michael vick, nra, racism, republicans, sarah palin, south texas, Texas, texas progressive alliance, toxic materials, unemployment insurance, waxman-markey on August 6, 2009 |
Here we are in August, and like every other week it’s time for another Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup.
TXsharon needs your help to Expose This Dirty Video.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out KBH and the GOP for using racism and the NRA to get out the vote in 2010. Having a competent, experienced Latina judge? Not important.
Off the Kuff reminds us that Governor Perry’s consistently wrong decisions regarding unemployment insurance will cost the state two billion dollars, maybe more.
McBlogger takes a look at a lawsuit against TRS and discovers losses, possible corruption and a nightmarish problem for the Republicans in 2010.
John Coby says you better think before you trust a republican with your family’s health care.
Mean Rachel decides that Democratic gubernatorial candidate is still too Bush League for her tastes.
Our governor is living the life of the rich and famous. It does so on our dime and on the “dimes” of his fat cat contributors. Libby Shaw gives us the ulgy details over at TexasKaos, Our Kept Governor to the Unemployed: Eat Cake.
Why did Ciro Rodriguez vote against the Waxman-Markey climate change bill and then suddenly flee the House? And why is he taking grip-and-grin meetings with David Dewhurst? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs would really like to know.
Vince at Capitol Annex tells why he believes that the smart money is on Texas Governor Rick Perry picking Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to replace U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison if she resigns before the end of the year.
Neil at Texas Liberal posted a video he made that will take only 39 seconds your life to watch. Also, Neil made a post marking the third anniversary of Texas Liberal. Texas Liberal has run 1500 page views a day so far this year and had racked-up over 725,000 views since it began. Thank you blog reading public!!
WhosPlayin notes that the City of Lewisville is cancelling its Cinco de Mayo celebration for 2010 due to budgetary concerns.
Dembones at Eye On Williamson points out Rep. John Carter’s latest nuttiness, Franking Commission draws the line on Rep. Carter.
Mike Thomas at Rhetoric & Rhythm reviews Debra Medina’s campaign video and deems her the Sarah Palin of South Texas.
Teddy of Left of College Station was forced to evacuate his home in Bryan due to a warehouse fire that was burning toxic materials, but was able to return to his home the next day. Before the evacuation Teddy was able to write about Michael Vick’s return to the NFL, and whether or not he deserves a second chance. Left of College Station also covers the local and progressive events in the Bryan-College Station this month.
Posted in Energy, tagged Brian Lloyd, CleanTX, Governor's Office, house of representatives, Imprisonment, Legislature, Lock, republicans, Rick Perry, solar, Texas, Tied, Voter I.D on July 6, 2009 |
While attending the Austin CleanTX foundation panel to hear their take on a post-legislative wrap-up, we overheard Governor Perry’s energy advisor Brian Lloyd say the following:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZIr_cYz1A]
Ouch!! While I don’t think Mr. Lloyd literally supports imprisoning his political adversaries and their supporters, it is somewhat surreal to hear one of our public figures suggesting it. I’ve been told that people often express their true feelings when they are joking, especially when they are not comfortable saying these things in any other context. No matter how you look at it, it is a little troubling that the Governor’s Advisor would suggest that we lock up people who disagree with him.
Mr. Lloyd’s quip was offered as an explanation for the failure of certain Solar Bills this session, but of course the real culprit here was the voter ID bill introduced by the conservative wing of the Republican party in both houses. This created a lot of partisan heat but no light as it killed not only legislation that would have promoted solar energy here in Texas, but also the Sunset safety bill (for which a special session was held last week). This exchange shows that Mr. Lloyd dismisses those of us who are concerned about the environment as minor irritants and our concerns as ill-conceived. I hope he will note that while he does dismiss our concerns, we our numerous and we can influence policy.
Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged democrat, environmentalism, Global Warming, kip averitt, kirk watson, PUC, republicans, Rick Perry, solar energy, Texas, texas house, texas public utility commission, texas senate, troy fraser, voter id bill, waco tribune on May 14, 2009 |
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Dismiss talk of global warming and environmentalism if you must. But times are changing fast and, along with them, the very way we heat and cool our homes and businesses.
The Texas Senate signaled as much this week, approving a bill encouraging development of solar energy plants to generate electricity, much as the state has done in making wind an energy player in Texas and beyond.
Now it’s up to the House and Gov. Rick Perry to show similar vision for Texas.
We hope it isn’t much of a stretch. Sunshine is something we have plenty of in Texas — and we’re unlikely to run out of it anytime soon.
Passage of state Sen. Kirk Watson’s legislation, with help from Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, is remarkable for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the Senate is dominated by Republicans. Watson is a Democrat.
Yet many lawmakers on both sides want to encourage the solar, geothermal and biomass energy aims in this bill. Some see the writing on the wall.
A Texas Public Utility Commission report issued Tuesday concludes that electricity prices could jump as much as $10 billion a year — $27 a month in the average electric bill — if Texans don’t anticipate looming federal greenhouse regulations aimed at cutting carbon-based fuels like natural gas and coal.
Environmentalists and lawmakers see Watson’s bill as neatly bolstering our state’s energy arsenal, especially as Texas continues to grow. Solar could help ensure energy offerings at peak times of the day, while wind will prove of greatest impact during the night hours. (more…)
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