Environment Texas Insider Update
Submitted by Southern Shift on Thu, 2009-11-19 20:26
Authored by Alejandro Savransky, Field Organizer for Environment Texas and Environment Texas Research & Policy Center
Here’s our November Coalition Update. Lots of exciting things have happened!
Go Solar Texas! A new Hope for Solar…
As most of you know, the legislature failed to adopt a statewide solar rebate program earlier this year. However, a new path to solar incentives has opened at the Public Utilities Commission.
On Friday, the PUC unveiled its "strawman" proposal to boost investments in energy efficiency. If adopted, the PUC would more than double the requirement on utilities to invest in energy efficiency, saving consumers $411 million and avoiding the need to produce 535 megawatts of electricity (the equivalent of a large coal-fired power plant).
In addition, the proposed rule says utilities “may” meet 10% of the requirement through investments in solar power or other distributed renewable energy technologies (e.g. small scale wind, geothermal heat pumps, etc). There is clear intent from the Legislature to create a statewide rebate program for solar power, so kudos to the PUC staff for proposing a solar set-aside. If 10% of the program was dedicated to solar, we could develop more than 500 megawatts of rooftop solar by 2015, according to an analysis by Vote Solar.
Now we just have to change that one small word - may - to "shall." No sweat, right? Sadly no. The electric companies don't like that idea and will likely put up a fight. So it's up to Governor Perry and the PUC to show leadership and adopt a strong solar program (you can sign our petition here). And you can read a bit more about this issue on our blog.
New Chief for EPA Region 6
Environment Texas is thrilled with the appointment of Dr. Al Armendariz to lead Region 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Armendariz, an engineering professor at Southern Methodist University, has worked with diverse constituencies ranging from corporations to citizens groups and has published dozens of studies on myriad environmental issues throughout his career. His appointment garnered high praise from the environmental community.
You can see our press release here, and read Matthew Tresaugue’s story on the Houston Chronicle here.
Latest Reports and Media Hits
In the past 2 months, we’ve released 5 reports and gotten over 50 media hits from our work in the field! Below are some highlights from each report:
In the last week, we released 2 reports on energy and climate change. “Too Much Pollution” shows global warming pollution trends inTexas and across the country (here’s a link to the report). In the lone star state, CO2 emissions went down 2% between 2004 and 2007. This is great news for our state; even down we are just beginning to saddle up in our climate change fight. This report got good local coverage, and the Wall Street Journal had a story online. Local NPR stations KUHF and KUT ran stories as well.
As the nukes battle continues in San Antonio, we released “Generating Failure,” a report that shows how building nuclear power plants would set America back in the race against Global Warming. The report shows that nuclear power is too slow and too expensive to make the necessary impact to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Since we have the potential right here in America to seize the power of wind and sun, we should prioritize spending and incentivizing in clean, renewable energy instead.
Earlier this month, Environment Texas released “Toxics on Tap: How Natural Gas Drilling Threatens Drinking Water.” With 95,814 gas wells in Texas, air and water pollution from gas drilling is a major concern for Texans. By using a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, natural gas extractors inject a toxic mix of fluids into the ground to create fractures which allow natural gas to flow to the surface. This process can force toxic substances already underground into drinking water. Some of the fluids drillers inject remain underground, and can also end up contaminating water supplies. (Here is a link to the report)
Due to a 2005 exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA cannot fully regulate gas drilling. There’s currently no federal requirement for disclosure of chemicals used by gas drillers, and Texas does not require any kind of disclosure either.
You can see some media coverage of our report in Dallas (in the Dallas Morning News and Channel 33) and Midland (on an ABC affiliate)
Also in October, we also release “Wasting our Waterways,” a report showing that polluters have dumped 13 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas Waterways. This report shows that the most affected Waterways in Texas are the Brazos River and the Houston Ship Channel, and the top 3 water polluters in the state are:
1) Pilgrim’s Pride Chicken in Mount Pleasant, TX
2) Sanderson Farms Chicken in Bryan, TX
3) Shell Oil in Deer Park, TX
We got significant media coverage on this issue. You can see a few stories here from KXAN-TV in Austin, KUHF and the Houston Press in Houston, and The Eagle in Bryan.
Repower America
At the federal level, we are working to pass strong clean energy legislation through Congress that would put the first cap on global warming emissions in our nation's history. We’ve done significant work on this campaign in the Rio Grande Valley, particularly in Congressman Henry Cuellar district, who voted for the bill this past June. Last month, over thirty businesses and organizations from Texas' 28th district, voiced support for the bill and urged the Congressman to continue voting for legislation that will repower America and stop global warming.
Social Media
Environment Texas is maintaining a strong online presence. We have over 700 followers on twitter and almost 1000 fans on facebook. We constantly break our latest news and stories through these mediums, so we encourage you to join our social media community.
The Environment Texas podcast, “A Minute for the Environment,” has been a huge hit since its launch in August. It has featured interviews with State Representative Mark Strama, State Senator Kirk Watson, Public Utilities Commission Chair Barry Smitherman, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and former State Senator and public beaches advocate Babe Schwartz. Our upcoming episode with Houstonmayoral candidate Annise Parker will be available this coming week, so stayed tuned for that.
Thanks again for all that you do. Let us know if you need anything from us.
Alejandro Savransky
Field Organizer
Environment Texas and Environment Texas Research & Policy Center
