March 4, 2010

UT STUDENTS VOTE TO RAISE OWN FEES FOR GREEN FUND

In a campuswide vote on Tuesday, students at UT Austin chose to raise their own fees by $5 per semester to support environmental services on campus. The move will create a green fund raise up to $500,000 per year for sustainability at the state's largest university. The vote comes after a new state law passed in 2009 gave approval to public colleges and universities in Texas to establish such fees if they were supported by the student body. HB 3353 was authored by Elliot Naishtat (D-Austin) and co-authored by Fred Brown (R-College Station) and provides guidelines on how the money can be spent. Qualifying services include recycling, green building, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and transportation.

From Think Green Fund campaign

By Trevor Lovell

March 2, 2010

ONCOR'S RESPONSE TO FRASER'S LETTER

Dear Chairman and Commissioners, Oncor has deployed more than 760,000 smart meters in our service area. As you are aware, we have received several hundred calls from electric customers in the Killeen-Temple area who are concerned about the accuracy of their smart meters since mid-December, as many of these customers have received electric bills that have been higher than expected. Our testing, which has included more than 2,800 onsite meter tests at customers' homes, in addition to the normal testing that all meters undergo, continue to demonstrate smart meter accuracy in measuring customer's electric consumption.

From Oncor Electric Delivery

March 2, 2010

SEN. FRASER'S LETTER TO PUC REGARDING SMART METERS

Dear Chairman Smitherman, Many of my constituents in Bell County have contacted my office in the last two months concerned about high electricity bills. Based on past usage, they question whether their extremely high electric bills are due to the weather or the installation of the new smart meters.

From Office of state Sen. Troy Fraser

February 26, 2010

RAILROAD COMMISSION RELEASES PRODUCTIONS STATISTICS

The Texas average rig count as of Feb. 12 was 542, representing about 42 percent of all active land rigs in the United States. In the last 12 months, total Texas reported production was 345 million barrels of oil and 7.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Texas natural gas production represents approximately 29 percent of total U.S. natural gas demand. The Commission’s estimated final production for December 2009 is 29,125,603 barrels of crude oil and 605,530,470 Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of gas well gas.

From Texas Railroad Commission

By Ramona Nye

February 24, 2010

PEDERNALES MEMBERS TO VOTE ON PROPOSED BILL OF RIGHTS

Pedernales Electric’s Board of Directors unanimously voted on Monday, Feb. 22 to place a member bill of rights on the 2010 ballot, giving PEC’s 196,000 members the power to ratify the document at the Cooperative’s annual meeting on June 19 in Johnson City. If ratified, the bill of rights would establish core rights, such as election safeguards, which could only be changed with a member vote. “The member bill of rights is a first-ever initiative that establishes the importance of the principles of openness and fair elections by making them permanent fixtures at the Cooperative, changeable only with member approval,” said District 7 Director Dr. Patrick Cox.

From Pedernales Electric Cooperative

By Anne Harvey

February 18, 2010

TEXAS LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS BLASTS PERRY OVER EPA LAWSUIT

The Texas League of Conservation Voters (TLCV), the state’s leading environmental organization dedicated to electing pro-conservation candidates, today denounced Governor Perry’s decision to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, calling the action irresponsible and a waste of taxpayer money. The group called for new leadership for Texas that would focus on cutting pollution and creating new clean energy jobs. “Instead of focusing on cutting pollution and creating new jobs in wind and solar, the Governor has embarked on an expensive publicity stunt. It’s impossible to believe the Governor’s so-called enthusiasm for recruiting green jobs to Texas when he’s fighting tooth and nail to protect old, dirty industries like coal” said David Weinberg, Executive Director of the Texas League of Conservation Voters.

From Texas League of Conservation Voters

February 18, 2010

TEXAS GROUP SUPPORTS OBAMA'S PLAN FOR NUKE EXPANSION

Tom Forbes, president of Nuclear Energy for Texans, issued the following statement today: “We applaud the Federal government’s decision to support Southern Co.’s Georgia Power with $8.33 billion in conditional loan guarantees so that the company can finance and expand its Burke, Georgia site. “After nearly three decades, this is a significant step forward in the process of expanding our nation’s future baseload generation capacity. “Expanding domestic nuclear power operations will allow us to become less dependent on foreign energy sources, and will provide considerable economic benefit."

From Nuclear Energy for Texans

By Rebecca Gough

February 18, 2010

ERCOT REPORTS 97% PASS RATE FOR LATEST NODAL TEST

More than 97 percent of generation resources have qualified in the nodal market connectivity trials, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) executives said at Tuesday’s monthly board of directors meeting. Interim CEO Trip Doggett reported that market trials for the real-time market and outage scheduler began on Feb. 1, and the day-ahead market trials are on schedule to begin April 1. Full-functionality integrated market trials are scheduled to start May 3. Fifty-four of 80 congestion revenue rights account holders have qualified in the CRR trials, Chief Technology Officer Mike Cleary reported in the nodal update. The first monthly congestion revenue rights auction ran on Feb. 17 with 38 market participants participating for a total of 12,208 submissions.

From Electric Reliability Council of Texas

By Dottie Roark

February 18, 2010

SIERRA CLUB THREATENS LAWSUIT OVER LUMINANT COAL PLANT

The Sierra Club put Energy Future Holdings Corp. and its subsidiary, Luminant (formerly TXU), on notice that the environmental group intends to sue the utility giant in federal court, for thousands of air pollution violations at the Big Brown coal-fired electric generating power plant, near Fairfield, Texas south of Corsicana. The Big Brown coal-fired power plant emits air pollution in enormous volumes each year, especially soot particles, mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide—chemicals that worsen asthma, acid rain, smog and global warming. Luminant’s Big Brown plant emits more asthma- and smog-forming sulfur dioxide per unit of electricity it produces than any other power plant in Texas, according to the U.S. EPA’s 2008 Clean Air Markets data.

From Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club

By Donna Hoffman

February 17, 2010

NEARLY 80 GROUPS FALL IN BEHIND AUSTIN'S CLEAN ENERGY PLAN

Dozens of businesses and nonprofit organizations as well as more than 200 citizens have formed Clean Energy for Austin, a coalition whose purpose is to push Austin City Council to adopt a clean energy plan. Specifically, the coalition supports the passage of Austin Energy's Resource and Climate Protection Plan and recommendations of a city task force created to examine the plan. Coalition members support the plan because of its emphasis on renewable energy and efficiency, green jobs creation and careful consideration of Austin's low-income residents.

From Clean Energy For Austin

By Matthew Johnson

February 16, 2010

TONY GARZA ENDORSES CARRILLO FOR RE-ELECTION

Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza today announced his endorsement of Chairman Victor Carrillo in his re-election to the Texas Railroad Commission. “I’ve known Victor personally and professionally for many years, and his proven track record of conservative leadership will continue to serve the people of Texas well. We need the breadth and depth of his experience and expertise at the helm of the Texas Railroad Commission,” said Garza, who served on the Railroad Commission from 1999 - 2003.

From Office of Antonio Garza

By Jennifer Harris