One point we often forget when debating climate change strategies is the major economic case for changing our economy to new, clean technology. A new study has been released on the impacts of the Kerry-Lieberman bill, which we’ve never been so hot on, but it shows that despite what the chicken littles at the Chamber of Commerce might spew about how a carbon cap is a jobs killer, it’s anything but. From the NY Times articles on this story:
The Peterson Institute for International Economics said in its 18-page report that the bill from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) creates the new jobs between 2011 and 2020 because of its mandatory limits on greenhouse gases, which will prompt $41.1 billion in investments per year as the nation shifts away from traditional fossil fuels like coal and oil and toward new nuclear power and renewables.
So, good news, right? 
Looking closer at the study itself, we see something very interesting. Michael Levi of the CFR points out that it looks more like this is a nuclear jobs bill than a climate bill, echoing what Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum has said repeatedly about this bill.
And indeed, here is average ANNUAL net job creation by industry from 2011-2020 according to page 12 the analysis:
- Nuclear: 165,000
- CCS: 96,000
- Renewables: 19,000
Yikes. Overall, this is a bad deal. And, this assumes that carbon sequestration is economical, safe, and practical. But more on that later.
The sad thing is, we know what we need to do to create more jobs in renewable energy. Continue Reading »
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, Nuclear | Tagged American Power Act, carbon capture and sequestration, CCS, climate change, Global Warming, green jobs, jobs, Kerry-Lieberman, Nuclear, Texas |
Busy, busy, busy. Public Citizen staff have been making the rounds this week, traveling all over Texas in order to educate, empower, and organize citizens. From Beaumont to Dallas. From tar sands to the Public Utility Commission, we are working to protect the economic and environmental well-being of all Texans.
The Week in Review: Continue Reading »
Posted in Coal, Consumers, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, green jobs, Nuclear, Renewables, solar | Tagged matt johnson, mona avalos, Public Citizen, ryan rittenhouse, Texas, texas vox, week in review |
May 19, 2010 by Citizen Carol
In 1977, the Texas Legislature created the Sunset Advisory Commission to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies. The 12-member Commission is a legislative body that reviews the policies and programs of more than 150 government agencies every 12 years. The Commission questions the need for each agency, looks for potential duplication of other public services or programs, and considers new and innovative changes to improve each agency’s operations and activities. The Commission seeks public input through hearings on every agency under Sunset review and recommends actions on each agency to the full Legislature. In most cases, agencies under Sunset review are automatically abolished unless legislation is enacted to continue them.
The Commission holds public hearings on each agency under review. These hearings offer the public an opportunity to testify about an agency and comment on the Sunset staff’s recommendations. Witness affirmation forms are available at the meeting if you would like to testify before the Commission Public hearings are webcast and archives are available. Continue Reading »
Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, solar | Tagged Energy Efficiency, net metering, PUC, renewable energy, Sunset, Texas, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission |
May 19, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) just announced board of directors’ chair, Jan Newton, has resigned citing personal reasons. Ms. Newton served on the ERCOT board since 2006 and became the chair in 2008.
Her resignation is the second major departure from ERCOT in the past eight months. In September of 2009, CEO Bob Kahn submitted his and ERCOT is still in the process of a nationwide search for his replacement. Conjecture about the possibility that the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) chair, Barry Smitherman, (who also serves on the ERCOT board of directors as a ex-officio member) had thrown his hat in the ring for the position was cut short when Chairman Smitherman announced publically that he had decided not to pursue the job.
At the time, while energy watchdogs agreed that Smitherman was highly qualified for the ERCOT job, they were also concerned that such an employment bid posed a conflict — first as a PUC commissioner charged with establishing the rules for ERCOT’s operation and, second, as a board member (albeit a non-voting one) of the agency he was asking to hire him. It was also unclear whether the laws governing the PUC would allow a commissioner to seek the ERCOT job. Texas’ Public Utility Regulatory Act says commissioners can’t seek employment with a “public utility” while serving on the PUC. ERCOT doesn’t technically qualify as a public utility, however industry insiders felt it was a gray area, and the spirit of the law looked prohibitive. So the search goes on.
Michehl Gent, who also joined the board in 2006, will step up as the incoming chair. Gent was former president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp.
Posted in Energy | Tagged ercot, PUC, Texas |
May 19, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Portland, Texas’ City Council members voted yesterday on a resolution to unanimously to support a State Office of Administrative Hearings’ judicial recommendation that an air permit sought for Las Brisas petroleum-coke fired power plant be denied or reviewed further.
Portland’s council has long-standing tradition of staying out of Corpus Christi and Nueces County matters, but back in March, after two administrative law judges recommended that the permit be denied or sent back to the state environmental agency for further review, City Councilwoman Cathy Skurow, a civil engineer specializing in environmental permitting, requested it be put on the agenda.
More than 50 people packed the City Council Chambers and the council heard twenty four-minutes of testimony from a couple of Portland residents and dozens of Corpus Christi residents, all against the project, because of concerns that the plant would be detrimental to residents’ health and harmful to the economy should the region fall out of compliance with air pollution limits.
Portland Mayor David Krebs told the crowd that he came into the meeting 100 percent against the resolution, but by the time the vote occurred, he and the others fully supported it.
Council members said the council is not for or against Las Brisas, but wanted to add its collective voice in asking the state agency to make sure the project meets environmental regulations before it is built. Basically the Portland council put TCEQ on notice that they expect TCEQ to do what they are supposed to do to protect the health and environmenal wellbeing of citizens in the region.
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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 Coal | Tagged Coal, las brisas, soah, TCEQ, Texas |
May 18, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) is considering proposed rules changes that will in many ways improve consumer protection, but contains some provisions that could allow retail electric providers (REP) to disconnect medically vulnerable customers who rely on electricity to sustain their lives. Other rules being considered could make it impossible for a consumer who is in debt to a retail electric provider to switch to lower cost services, eliminating their right to choose. Continue Reading »
Posted in Consumers | Tagged Barry Smitherman, Consumers, PUC, PUCT, retail electric providers, shutoffs, Texas |
May 17, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The U.S. Department of State will be hosting public hearings this week, May 17-20th in Beaumont, Liberty, Livingston, and Tyler on the proposed tar sands pipeline. Canadian oil and gas giant TransCanada needs U.S. Department of State approval in order to expand the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. The public hearings are key opportunities for local residents to make their voices heard and communicate their concerns about the project directly to State Department officials. Continue Reading »
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged Public Citizen, Texas, U.S. Department of State |
Upholding a state court ruling made last year that found the hearing process was not conducted propery, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled against the Turk coal-fired power plant in Southwest Arkansas. This is great news for the People of Arkansas, surrounding states, and the planet in general. Perhaps SWEPCO will take this as a hint that coal power is the past and start investing in the energy of the future with efficiency and renewables. Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard on this issue including Audubon Arkansas, Sierra Club, and many others.
For more details, here are links to stories at Arkansas Matters and Forbes.
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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 Coal, Efficiency, Energy, Global Warming | Tagged climate change, Coal, public citizen texas, Texas |
May 12, 2010 by Citizen Carol
[polldaddy poll=3193510]
After half a year of delay, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are set to release their nuclear energy/cap-and-trade bill today. Until we see legislative text, we can comment only on the broad outline made available yesterday and an additional summary being circulated among legislative staff.
It’s not accurate to call this a climate bill. This is nuclear energy-promoting, oil drilling-championing, coal mining-boosting legislation with a weak carbon-pricing mechanism thrown in. What’s worse, it guts the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current authority to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Here’s our take on what we know is in the new bill: Continue Reading »
Posted in Coal, Efficiency, Global Warming, Nuclear, Renewables, solar | Tagged climate change, Coal, Energy Efficiency, Nuclear, renewable energy, Texas |
May 12, 2010 by Citizen Carol
PUBLIC CITIZEN’s TEXAS OFFICE is a
Public Citizen’s Texas office would like to thank all those who made donations to Earth Share of Texas through HEB’s in-store coupon promotion for April. Your donations will go toward supporting environmental work in Texas including the Texas office of Public Citizen.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged public citizen texas, Texas |
May 11, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The day after our radioactive waste importation webinar, the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission announced that it would delay consideration of the rule that would have allowed the import of low level nuclear waste from the entire nation into Texas. The rule will not be considered now until at least June. This is great news!
The announcement came shortly after a letter signed by 15 members of the Texas Legislature was sent to the Compact Commission. The Commission’s interim director sited the need to “consider and respond to” the “more than 2,000 comments” (2,490 to be precise) submitted on the proposed rule as a primary reason for the delay. The majority of those comments were generated by the Sierra Club, and many others were generated or submitted by the other groups that helped organize the webinar. Continue Reading »
Posted in Nuclear | Tagged Nuclear, public citizen texas, Texas |
It’s a bitter sweet day here at Public Citizen. We’ve had another successful week despite the gulf catastrophe. But, we’re all a little sad because Andrew Sauls just finished the last day of his internship. Melissa “Mami” Sanchez is both proud of her fledgling for flying off and also dismayed to see the intern nest grow a little emptier. But that means she’s on the lookout for new eager interns if you’re interested in energy advocacy work shoot her an email at msanchez@citizen.org.
Andrew extends his sincere thanks to all of our staff for the knowledge, training, and expertise everyone has imparted. He left today’s staff meeting to warm cheers and handshakes. Andy’s off to Houston for the weekend to celebrate Mothers’ Day.
Now, the week in review…
Continue Reading »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Andrew Sauls, Texas, week in review |
May 7, 2010 by Citizen Carol
U.S. Nuclear Reactor Projects In Line for Loan Guarantees Pose Major Risks to U.S. Taxpayers.
The only taxpayer-backed loan guarantee bailout to be offered for new nuclear reactors – $8.3 billion for two reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia was dealt a setback in a decision by a Georgia judge that state officials illegally certified the project, according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) and Public Citizen.
Despite the push in Congress for more controversial loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors, the other two leading contenders for such bailouts – the South Texas Project at Bay City on the Gulf Coast (114 miles from San Antonio and 90 miles from Houston) and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland – are more unsettled than ever and now pose an even greater risk to U.S. taxpayers. Given this, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Sustainable Energy and Economic (SEED) Coalition and Public Citizen believe the Department of Energy (DOE) should overhaul its evaluation process before offering any new loan guarantees to nuclear projects .
DOE has stated that the $10 billion remaining in loan guarantee authority is only sufficient for one of the two projects and has requested another $9 billion in the appropriations supplemental to cover the second project. In its FY2011 budget request, the Obama Administration has already requested $36 billion in loan guarantee authority, a tripling of the nuclear loan guarantee program. Continue Reading »
Posted in Nuclear | Tagged Nuclear, Texas |
The latest activist in our series is Public Citizen Texas’ Ryan Rittenhouse. Ryan is our anti-coal advocate from Cleveland, Ohio and has a B.A. in Communications from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania (a liberal arts school!). He is a part of the No Coal Coalition and is currently organizing opposition to the Tenaska and White Stallion coal plant proposals.
Sometimes, if you’re quiet, you can catch him sneaking outside the office to hug a tree.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FHhWCbEfCs]
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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. Continue Reading »
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged public citizen texas, ryan rittenhouse, Texas |
May 5, 2010 by Citizen Carol
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Green Fund
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Posted by Trevor Lovell
From a ReEnergize Texas press release issued April 26th |
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Earth Week in Texas brought a major victory for student environmentalists. Student bodies at 5 state universities voted in favor of campus “green funds.” The institutions are among some of the state’s largest – UT Austin, UT San Antonio, UT El Paso, Texas A&M University, and the University of North Texas – and the funds are expected to generate a combined $8 million for sustainability projects over their five year lifespan.
“The message was about investing in a greener future for our campus,” said Cameron Tharp who headed the campaign at the University of North Texas where 82% of students voted in favor.
If each of the funds is approved by its respective board of regents, Texas would have a total of 7 public colleges with green funds, including Texas State University and Austin Community College, both of which already have such funds in place. California currently has 10 public colleges with green funds, the most in the country. Continue Reading »
Posted in Efficiency, Global Warming, green jobs | Tagged public citizen texas, students, Texas |
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