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Archive for November, 2010

Radiation in Houston’s Tap Water Compounded by TCEQ ‘lowballing’ radiation scores in drinking water throughout Texas

Posted in Radiation, tagged , , , , on November 17, 2010 |

In a three part story, KHOU-TV reports on a four-month investigation into radioactive contaminants in the Houston area drinking water. Revelations that came to light shows hundreds of water providers around the Gulf Coast region are providing their customers with drinking water that contains radioactive contaminants that raise health risks, according to state lab results and public health scientists. The data, from thousands of state laboratory tests from water providers across Texas, provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), ranged from 2004 to the present.

Watch part one of this investigative report.
Radiation in Houston’s Tap Water

The radiation was first discovered as a part of required testing, under federal regulations, of all drinking water provided by community water systems in America. (more…)

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Come tonight to the town hall meeting on the TCEQ Sunset in Austin

Posted in Air Quality, Sunset, TCEQ, tagged , , , on November 17, 2010 |

Austin town hall meeting on the TCEQ Sunset review – Wednesday, November 17th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Bass Lecture Hall at the LBJ School of Public Affairs on University of Texas campus. (This auditorium is located in the basement level of Sid Richardson Hall.)

All are invited to attend these town halls to learn about the current TCEQ Sunset review, and to voice their recommendations for changes that will improve TCEQ. State representatives and senators from the Austin region have been invited to attend; these town halls provide an excellent opportunity for lawmakers to learn more about TCEQ’s impact in their community.

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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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Website offers some details about fracking chemicals: A public education effort or a slick PR campaign to take pressure off the natural gas industry?

Posted in Air Quality, tagged , , , , , on November 17, 2010 |

Halliburton offices on Bellaire Boulevard in W...

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, Halliburton unveiled a new website that offers some details about the mix of chemicals used in a natural gas drilling technique following the Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) decision last week to subpoena Halliburton to force the company to turn over information about the chemicals it produces for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Halliburton has said the website is not a response to EPA’s actions or meant to satisfy the agency’s demands, but it does appear to be an attempt on the company’s part to allay public concerns about the impact of the practice on drinking water. (more…)

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STP Outage extended – what will be the cost to Austin and San Antonio?

Posted in Energy, Nuclear, tagged , , , , , , , on November 16, 2010 |

A couple of weeks ago an outage at South Texas (Nuclear) Project (STP) occurred when unit 2 automatically shutdown due to an “equipment failure”.  This outage triggered a reliability deployment of LaaRs (Load Acting as a Resource) event at ERCOT.  This shifting of load to cover an unexpected event can be quite expensive and the retail electric providers who purchase their electricity from STP will bear the brunt of that cost.

South Texas Nuclear Plant entrance from NRC.gov

One of these two reactors isn't working. And they call renewable energy unreliable!

South Texas Project has since announced it will extend its Unit 2 outage to repair a seal-housing gasket on a reactor coolant pump, which moves water through the steam generator.   The company has decided that, while the gasket’s condition is within operating criteria, STP will make the needed repairs, while they also continue to run unit 1.

A repair schedule is being finalized and restoration of the unit is projected to be completed sometime in November, but we here wonder if it won’t be even into December before it is repaired.

In the meantime, Austin Energy, which gets 27% of its energy from STP, and San Antonio’s CPS, which gets 38% of its energy from STP will be purchasing energy from other sources to make up for the loss from the STP outage.  Let’s hope we don’t have a major cold front come in before STP unit 2 is back online, or these energy companies could be looking at a lowered earnings projection for their final quarter.

This continues a banner few weeks for the nuke industry, who had to shut down Vermont Yankee because of a radioactive water leak and an unexplained transformer explosion at Indian Point 2, a reactor just 24 miles north of New York City, a known secondary target of terrorists on 9/11.

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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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Abilene Town Hall on TCEQ Sunset, November 18th

Posted in Air Quality, Sunset, TCEQ, tagged , , , on November 14, 2010 |

The list of TCEQ Sunset town halls continues to grow with the addition of town halls in Abilene, Austin and Lubbock the week before Thanksgiving.  The Abilene town hall will take place Thursday, November 18th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Unity Church of Christianity.

All are invited to attend these town halls to learn about the current TCEQ Sunset review, and to voice their recommendations for changes that will improve TCEQ. State representatives and senators from the Abilene region have been invited to attend; these town halls provide an excellent opportunity for lawmakers to learn more about TCEQ’s impact in their community.

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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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Lubbock Town Hall Meeting on TCEQ Sunset

Posted in Air Quality, Sunset, TCEQ, tagged , , , , , on November 14, 2010 |

The list of TCEQ Sunset town halls continues to grow with the addition of town halls in Austin and Lubbock the week before Thanksgiving.  The Lubbock town hall will take place Friday, November 19th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Texas Tech School of Law.

All are invited to attend these town halls to learn about the current TCEQ Sunset review, and to voice their recommendations for changes that will improve TCEQ. State representatives and senators from the Lubbock region have been invited to attend; these town halls provide an excellent opportunity for lawmakers to learn more about TCEQ’s impact in their community.

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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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Houston Redistricting Hearing

Posted in Campaign Finance, Consumers, Good Government, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , on November 13, 2010 |

Come one, come all. The House Committee on Redistricting is taking public testimony at hearings around the state regarding redistricting that will help shape the districts for both the house and senate of the Texas legislature, Texas congressional districts, and districts for the election of judicial officers or of governing bodies or representatives of political subdivisions or state agencies as required by law, including state board of education districts for the next ten years..

The HOUSTON REDISTRICTING HEARING will be held on November 20, 2010 at 10:00 A.M. at University of Houston, Athletic/Alumni Center, O’Quinn Great Hall, 3100 Cullen Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77004.

For more information on redistricting, including links to video of earlier hearings in other communities around the state, see our earlier blog by clicking here

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A SIMMERING WATER WAR – special from Jim Hightower

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, green jobs, Nuclear, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 12, 2010 |

Originally posted at jimhightower.com

Here in my home state of Texas, we’re suffering from withdrawal pains.

This is not caused by our addiction to alcohol or drugs – but to plain water. And to make our pain worse, it’s not the people of Texas who are hooked on a destructive water habit – it’s the boneheaded executives and greedheaded investors in coal-fired and nuclear-powered plants that generate electricity. (more…)

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60 Minutes reports on Fracking

Posted in Air Quality, Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , on November 12, 2010 |

On Sunday, November 14th, 60 minutes will run a segment on the controvercial process of hydrolic fracturing (also known as fracking) for extracting natural gas.  Much of the footage was shot around the Barnett Shale near and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where residents are grappling with a plethora of potential problems from compressor stations emitting known carcinogens such as benzene, to the poor lining of wells after drilling that has led some water taps to literally spout flames, all associated with the full set of activities needed to produce natural gas (see our earlier blog about the focus of a Town Hall meeting regarding the Texas Sunset process and the two agencies in Texas who regulate this process). 

60 Minutes Segment on FrackingThe “60 Minutes” episode is entitled  SHALEIONAIRES and below is a brief description of the segment.

SHALEIONAIRES – While some complain that extracting natural gas from shale rock formations is tainting their water supply, others who have allowed drilling on their property are getting wealthy and becoming “shaleionaires.” Lesley Stahl reports. Shachar Bar-On and Meghan Frank are the producers.

You can watch this episode on CBS on Sunday, November 14th at 6 pm CT.  If you missed it, click here to catch it online.

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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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Even CSI is concerned about “Fracking”

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on November 12, 2010 |

 

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - "Fracked"

Even CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is taking a look at "Fracking"

“FRACKED”

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – FRACKED –  Click here to watch the episode as the CSI team investigates the murder of two men who were about to expose a natural gas conglomerate of poisoning residents in a farming town.

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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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The Texas Railroad Commission and Barnett Shale – November 18th Public hearing

Posted in Air Quality, tagged , , , , , on November 12, 2010 |

The Energy Resources Committee of the Texas House of Representatives will meet to hear both invited and public testimony in the Fort Worth, Texas City Hall  located at 1000 Throckmorton St. at 9:00 AM on Thursday, November 18, 2010 to discuss interim charge #1. 

The 81st legislature charged the committee with surveying current local ordinances governing surface use of property in oil and gas development and recommending changes to the 82nd legislature, if any, to the authority of the Railroad Commission to regulate the operation of oil and gas industries in urban areas of the state, particularly the Barnett Shale.

If you have questions regarding the hearing, please contact the committee office and speak to Bernice Espinosa-Torres or Ky Ash at (512)463-0656.

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EPA issues subpoena after Halliburton refuses to disclose fracking details

Posted in Air Quality, TCEQ, Toxics, tagged , , , , , on November 11, 2010 |

The EPA said it issued the subpoena after Texas-based Halliburton refused to voluntarily disclose the a description of the chemical components used in a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, a drilling practice that has been at the center of a controversy in the DFW area.  Halliburton was the only one of nine major energy companies that refused the EPA’s request.

The agency said the information is important to its study of fracking, to see whether the practice affects drinking water and the public health. (more…)

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Austin Town Hall Meeting on the TCEQ Sunset

Posted in Air Quality, Sunset, TCEQ, tagged , , , on November 11, 2010 |

The list of TCEQ Sunset town halls continues to grow with the addition of town halls in Austin and Lubbock the week before Thanksgiving.  The Austin town hall will take place Wednesday, November 17th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Bass Lecture Hall at the LBJ School of Public Affairs on University of Texas campus. (This auditorium is located in the basement level of Sid Richardson Hall.)

All are invited to attend these town halls to learn about the current TCEQ Sunset review, and to voice their recommendations for changes that will improve TCEQ. State representatives and senators from the Austin region have been invited to attend; these town halls provide an excellent opportunity for lawmakers to learn more about TCEQ’s impact in their community.

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CREZ Project Wins Unanimous Approval at PUC hearing

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , on November 11, 2010 |

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved a controversial project to construct new power lines in the counties in the area around Hillsboro over the objections of numerous landowners from the area and several local elected officials.

The 3-0 vote came late yesterday afternoon after testimony from people likely to be affected by the $170 million project and a lengthy discussion among the three commissioners.

PUC Chairman Barry Smitherman announced to the room that he knew, “this is going to disappoint a lot of you, but I’m going to follow the ALJ’s (administrative law judge’s) recommendations.”

Most of the testimony revolved around the recommendations of the judges who presided over the detailed hearing on various possible routes for the segment of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, or CREZ, that would extend to several counties, including Hill, Bosque, Navarro, Shackelford and Scurry.

Commissioner Donna Nelson explained that the panel is tasked with balancing a wide range of competing interests to ensure that the state has the power it needs to keep up with ever-growing demand. and went on to note that everybody wants electricity, but nobody wants transmission lines.

The hearing room, along with two overflow rooms, was packed with people who came to Austin from the area where the power lines are planned.  To view the archived video of the hearing, click here.

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Perry’s deputy budget chief named new PUC executive director

Posted in Energy, tagged , , on November 10, 2010 |

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) has named one of Gov. Rick Perry’s chief energy advisers to take over as executive director of the agency that oversees the much of the electric industry in the state as well as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Brian Lloyd, spent 10 years at PUC before joining governor’s office where he currently serves as Perry’s deputy director of budget and planning.  Lloyd is also the Governor’s liaison with the PUC and will take over on December 1st  for Lane Lanford, who left to become compliance director for the Texas Reliability Entity, which monitors and enforces reliability standards in the electricity sector.

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