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Archive for the ‘Global Warming’ Category

Party In The Dark During Earth Hour

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2010 |

Worried about your environmental impact? This Saturday, March 27th at 8:30pm is your chance to participate with millions of people around the world during Earth Hour.

“What do I have to do?” Simply turn off the lights for one hour.

During this hour we can universally flip the switch on dirty air, foreign oil, and the impact that we have on climate change. This is a chance where we can all work together and have a positive impact while protecting not only our future but the future of the Earth.

“What am I going to do in the dark for an hour?” I am glad you asked. Here are some simple ideas:

  1. Invite your friends over for an Earth Hour Party
  2. Have a candlelight dinner with your family
  3. Set up camp in your home and share scary stories
  4. Meditate – the calmness is the perfect environment for meditation
  5. Take a walk under the moonlight
  6. Gaze at the stars

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5WYlqD8mR0&feature=player_embedded]

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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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Licensing Board to Hear Oral Arguments on STP Application April 7th in Bay City, TX.

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on March 26, 2010 |

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel will hear oral argument regarding a hearing in the South Texas Project Combined License (COL) proceeding on April 7 in Bay City, Texas. The ASLB is the independent body within the NRC that presides over hearings where the public can challenge proposed licensing and enforcement actions. (more…)

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NRG’s investment in STP contributes to stock downgrade

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on March 26, 2010 |

According to the Wall Street Journal, Citigroup has downgraded shares of NRG Energy (NRG) to “Hold” from “Buy” and cut price targets to $25 from $27 on the stocks. Shares of NRG today are off 34 cents, or 1.6%, at $20.83.

Citigroup analyst Brian Chin warns that NRG’s investment in the South Texas Plant (STP) nuclear power plant expansion continues to consume resources without a clear indication from the U.S. Department of Energy that they will receive a loan guarantee for the plant, impacting investor enthusiasm.

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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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Increasing Attacks Against Science

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on March 22, 2010 |

Ya’ll have heard of the “climategate” and other recent, escalating attacks against global warming science, and the scientists behind it. Though these attacks are getting more frequent and belligerent in nature some people are fighting back with cool heads and cold hard facts. Deniers rely on misinformation and cherry picking so much that they have made it into a new art form, but the truth is a hard thing to ultimately dodge.

Here’s the latest “Climate Crock of the Week” from Peter Sinclair. His video series is fantastic and probably one of the best resources out there for getting the down-low on the latest nonsense being spouted by FOX news or their affiliated denier zealots. He breaks down the denier myths and even uses their own references against them – showing everyone what the real science says.

Check it out, and check out his YouTube Channel for the rest of his videos. His blog can be seen here. He has also just started a video series called “Renewable Energy Solution of the Month” as a partner series to his “Climate Crocks” for some alternative, solutions-oriented messaging. Check them all out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp-iB6jwjUc&feature=digest]

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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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Nukes in Texas are heating up again!

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on March 22, 2010 |

Exelon Nuclear plans to file a 6,000-plus-page document that would give it as many as 40 years to begin work on a power plant in Victoria.

Exelon has looked at building a plant in this area of Texas since 2007. It plans to file an early site permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on  March 25, 2010.  This will allow them to keep their options open as the permit, if approved by the NRC, would give Exelon three to 20 years to decide whether to build a plant in Victoria County. It can be extended for another 20 years, giving the company up to 40 years to begin construction from the time that the NRC approves the permit.

Once the early site permit application is submitted, it undergoes a three- to four-year review process by the NRC in which it will evaluate the project’s environmental impact and safety preparedness.

The NRC will conduct a public meeting April 15 at the Victoria Community Center to explain what the review process entails.

Water use figures prominently into the concerns of many. The Guadalupe River is the designated water source for the possible power plant, and Exelon has a water reservation agreement with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) that expires in 2013.

In the agreement with the GBRA, Exelon reserved 75,000 acre-feet of water every year.  The plant’s water use supercedes that of other water users, including the city of Victoria and farmers in the region.

We strongly urge the public to attend this meeting.

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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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Public Meeting of South Texas Nuclear Project Environmental Impact Statement scheduled for May 6th

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , on March 19, 2010 |

NRC SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT NEW REACTORS

MEETINGS SCHEDULED – May 6 from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. and 7 – 10 p.m.
at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 7th St. in Bay City

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comments on its preliminary finding that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude issuing Combined Licenses (COL) for two new reactors at the South Texas Project site near Bay City, Texas. (more…)

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Birds of a Feather Feel the Heat from the Climate

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2010 |

Humans are not the only ones feeling the change of the climate, according to a new study released by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change. Collaborating with experts from the nation’s leading conservation organizations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that climate change has and will continue to have a devastating effect on bird species in all habitats.

“For well over a century, migratory birds have faced stresses such as commercial hunting, loss of forests,  the use of DDT and other pesticides, a loss of wetlands and other key habitat, the introduction of invasive species, and other impacts of human development,” Salazar said. “Now they are facing a new threat–climate change–that could dramatically alter their habitat and food supply and push many species towards extinction.”

The State of the Birds reports on oceanic, coastal, wetlands, islands, aridlands, grasslands and forest birds. These findings include observations and predictions, their vulnerability and potential impacts. (more…)

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Direct Action Against MTR at EPA

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 18, 2010 |

Activists are risking arrest by demonstrating outside EPA national headquarters in make-shift tripod stands. They say they won’t go away until EPA administrator Lisa Jackson promises to make a fly-over of the Appalachian Mountain Top Removal coal mines to see first hand the destruction it is causing.

Despite the Obama administration making claims they would crack down on MTR mining, the EPA has been slow to act and has actually granted some new MTR mining permits. It is only through continued pressure and media exposure that this horribly destructive practice can finally be stopped.

Civil disobedience and direct action are one of the most effective means of fighting injustice and tyranny. These activists are putting their freedom and their safety on the line to non-violently oppose one of the most irreversibly and violently destructive industries in history. Please help support their actions by posting at RAN and by contacting Lisa Jackson and asking her to go to Appalachia and take action against MTR.

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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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Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2010 |

The Texas Progressive Alliance heads into March Madness with its own bracket of news and links for the week.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders how Republicans can be so violently against having services they desperately need?

Off the Kuff analyzed county returns in the primaries for Governor, Lite Guv, and the Commissioners.

When are you “too gay” for your job? The Texas Cloverleaf finds out. (more…)

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Week in Review

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

“Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?” — Vladimir, Waiting for Godot

The Public Citizen Texas Week in Review (more…)

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DOE Throws $154 Million Down A Texas Hole

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2010 |

The United States Department of Energy has sunk $154 million into a carbon capture and sequestration project in Texas proposed by NRG Energy near Houston. The “demonstration” project will be built on their existing Parish Generating Station in Thompsons, TX (one of the biggest and dirtiest coal plants in Texas and the United States). The project will only be capturing 60 megawatts worth of CO2 from the plant – or 400,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. In comparison the Parish plant currently generates 2,697 megawatts of power and releases over 21 million tons of CO2 every year. Also keep in mind that the CO2 from this “capture” process will be used in what’s called “Enhanced Oil Recovery” meaning that the CO2 being sequestered will be partially offset by the CO2 released when the resulting oil is burned. And even industry analysts have said that between 35-50% of the CO2 solution used in EOR comes back up during the oil recovery process, with this carbon being released back into the atmosphere. (more…)

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FACTCHECK: Governor Perry sends a letter to Congress about the EPA- More hot air?

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2010 |

Governor Perry sent a letter to Congressional leadership and the Texas delegation asking them to strip the EPA of the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, which they were told to do by the Supreme Court in 2007’s Massachusetts v. EPA.

Governor Perry needs to check his facts a little more carefully.

He stated in the letter “Texas is aggressively seeking its future in in alternative energy through incentives and innovation, not mandates and overreaching regulation.”  Gov Perry is correct, in one sense– we have cut our CO2 emissions as a state, but the primary driver of those cuts was the expansion of wind energy that created thousands of new jobs.  And how did we accomplish that?  Through a Renewable Portfolio Standard, or, a fancy term meaning a government mandate.

What Perry should be doing is begging the Federal government to impose a nationwide RPS, which would mean renewable resource poor states would come to Texas to buy our renewable energy the same way they’ve counted on us for our oil and gas in the past.

Further, Perry tries to induce fear by saying EPA regulation would affect “every small business, farm, rancher and family” when the EPA earlier this week said they would only begin regulating tailpipe emissions this year, moving on to power plants which emit more than 100,000 tons of CO2 within the next 2-3 years, then on to other facilities which emit more than 75,000 tons (large facilities like cement kilns or refineries).  This would never affect any small business or church or school…. unless, of course, you go to Carbon Burnin’ High, home of the Flaming Smokestacks!

Governor Perry needs to focus more on bringing these clean energy jobs to Texas and a little less to railing against “the Man” in DC.

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Drop by Drop: 7 Ways Texas Cities Can Conserve Water

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2010 |

The National Wildlife Federation and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club have created a splash with their latest report: Drop by Drop: 7 Ways Texas Cities Can Conserve Water.

Austin should be proud. Out of 19 cities studied in this report, our capital city was highly ranked on outdoor water ordinances and has an aggressive toilet replacement program. San Antonio has also set the bar high for effective and diverse water efficiency programs across the country. The cities surveyed were measured on: water pricing structure, water saving goals, toilet replacement, conservation funding, and outdoor watering. Though many cities and towns across the nation have made great strides to reduce water use, the report’s conclusion is that most cities are not doing as much as they could to efficiently use existing water supplies. (more…)

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Help Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 |

Please join us in supporting ILoveMountains.org in their ongoing campaign to bring a halt to Mountaintop Removal (MTR) Coal Mining. There is a bill in front of the House of Representatives that would do a great deal to help stop this incredibly destructive operation.

As you probably know, MTR is one of the most ecologically destructive practices on the planet (and that’s saying a lot). It completely destroys huge sections of the Appalachian forests and mountains which are the second-most biological diverse region on the surface of planet Earth (second only to the tropical rain forests). (more…)

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Texas Oil And Gas Accountability Project: A New Watchdog for Texas’ Shale Gas Drilling Industry

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 |

This month Earthworks officially launched the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP),

a new citizens’ group that will work to ensure that Texas’ burgeoning Barnett shale gas industry operates while respecting the environment and the rights of its neighbors.

There have been, to say the (very) least, a myriad of concerns popping up in recent years related to gas drilling in the Barnett Shale, particularly with a process called hydraulic fracturing (fracking).  In a nutshell, fracking is when a fluid under very high pressrue is pushed down into a fracture in the rock to make the fracture bigger and release natural gas from the shale below. Problem is, what is in that fluid can be extremely toxic (read: cancer causing and then some) and its full contents are largely kept under wraps (take action!).  Area residents are also very concerned about the health and environmental impacts of emissions from the wells.

According to the press release,

The shale gas industry is exploding in the central Texas. In Fort Worth alone, more than 1,100 wells have been drilled within the city limits, and 100 new wells are being permitted every month. Over 9,000 wells have been drilled in surrounding counties — with 5,000 more already approved. Pipelines and wells are being located and drilled just a few feet from residences, sparking concerns by local residents for their health. Open spaces, such as the Tandy Hills, Greenbelt and other endangered, native prairie lands are turning into industrialized landscapes and drilling is encroaching upon Lake Worth, a critical drinking water supply for the city.

In addition to launching the organization, TXOGAP also released a report entitled, DRILL-RIGHT TEXAS: Best Oil & Gas Development Practices for Texas.

“DRILL-RIGHT TEXAS shows the drilling industry how to do it right: respect private property rights, clean water and clean air, wildlife, and public health,” said Sharon Wilson, the new Texas OGAP organizer. She continued, “I’m a 4th generation Texan who hoped to get rich selling gas leases. After witnessing first-hand the devastation wrought by current drilling practices, I know that unless DRILL RIGHT recommendations are followed, Texans and future Texans will be a whole lot poorer.”

For more information and updates from the ground, visit Bluedaze: Drilling Reform for Texas.

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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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