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Archive for July 6th, 2010

Climate Activist Ted Glick Sentenced

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2010 |

Ted Glick,  policy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was just sentenced for his demonstration on September 8.

I am on one year’s probation, I need to pay an $1100 fine, I need to do 40 hours of community service in D.C. and if I’m arrested over the next year I automatically go to jail for 30 days on each of the two misdemeanor counts I was convicted of.

What was Ted’s heinous crime? He hung two banners saying “Green Jobs Now” and “Get to Work” in the Hart Senate Office Building. (more…)

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Who Watches the Watchmen? YOU DO- read your Representatives’ personal financial disclosure!

Posted in Good Government, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2010 |

"You Have Won Second Prize in a Beauty Contest" says this Community Chest card from the board game Monopoly

Did YOUR Legislator win 2nd prize in any beauty contests? Find out in their personal financial disclosures.

Texas Tribune has just published their list of Texas Personal Financial Statements: 2009, in which you can search for the personal financial statements of over 3,000 Texas officials and political candidates.  Why not look up your representative or senator, your favorite  TCEQ commissioner, the governor, perhaps?  You will be able to see the source of the paychecks they are bringing home and what investments or gifts they might have which create any impropriety.

All of this is thanks to the Texas Public Information Act, under which they bravely requested all of these disclosures and then went through the arduous task of scanning and uploading them.

Top MenEDITOR’S NOTE: What? You thought Texas might provide these types of records in an electronic format to begin with? Or that legislators and candidates would be able to file electronically? Almost makes you wonder why they want this information trapped on paper instead of an easily parse-able format, eh? Cut to scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark with giant warehouse where Indiana Jones is promised “top men” will be looking into the ark… ~~AW

Texas Tribune, Burnt Orange Report and the Hank Gilbert campaign are all already making issues out of information in personal financial statements of former Houston Mayor and Dem gubernatorial nominee Bill White, Governor Perry and Ag Commissioner Todd Staples, respectively.

Texas Tribune doesn’t have the time to sift through all of these, so they’re asking their readers to help them out– check out what you can and if you see something, let us know and let them know.

To save you the trouble, here is the link for Rick Perry’s: http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-personal-financial-statements-2009/?appSession=532163143824315

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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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New EPA Air Quality rule will protect lives by cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, Energy, tagged , , , , , , on July 6, 2010 |

In a breaking story from the AP, we learn that the air pollution rules first proposed under George W. Bush’s EPA are Pollution from coal fired power plants has been linked to respiratory illness and premature deathsmoving forward.

The Environmental Protection Agency said the new rules would cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 71 percent from 2005 levels by 2014 and nitrogen oxide emissions by 52 percent in the same time frame.

The regulation, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, requires 31 states from Massachusetts to Texas to reduce emissions that contribute to smog and soot and can travel long distances in the wind. The agency predicted the rule would prevent about 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths a year.

The rule would overturn and toughen rules issued during the administration of former President George W. Bush.

What happened was the Bush Administration took a look at the scientific reviews for where the levels of these pollutants should be to protect health. When they published their new air quality standards, they were actually less strong than the science required.

And while legal wrangling is fun, the real story here is the impact on human health.

“We’re working to limit pollution at its source, rather than waiting for it to move across the country,” Jackson said in a statement.

The proposed reductions should save billions of dollars in avoided health costs and sick days and save thousands of lives each year, Jackson said. Those benefits would far outweigh the estimated $2.8 annual cost of compliance, she said.

Reducing pollution from power plants means fewer sick kids who have to miss school, it means fewer people who have to be rushed to the ER for an asthma treatment, and even means fewer deaths.  And, of course, reducing these emissions most likely also means a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, another added benefit we can all be happy about.

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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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