Some Progress on Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy;
Opportunities Missed on Clean Air and
Global Warming
In February the Texas Legislature
received a loud mandate from a coalition of Texans from
all walks of life who gathered on the south steps
of the Capitol for the largest environmental rally
in the history of events at the Capitol. Concerned
about the potential impacts on public health from
19 proposed coal plants, a diverse coalition --
farmers and ranchers, other landowners, physicians
and other health professionals, public officials
and school board members, a network of religious
groups, environmental organizations and youth – all
united to ask Legislators to ‘Stop the Coal
Rush!’
“Law makers placed our clean air issues
on the table,” said Cyrus
Reed, contract
lobbyist with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra
Club. “They introduced a record 62 bills
proposing safer, cleaner, and cheaper energy solutions
that would help clean up our air by restricting
dirty emissions and giving the agency more tools
to properly permit electric generating plants.
Some were ready to address the serious problem
of global warming. As the Session concluded, however,
it became apparent that while there was some progress
on energy efficiency and renewable energy, the
Legislature left the plan in place for industry
to increase tons of pollutants into the Texas
air in coming years without adequate protections.”
Progress on Efficiency, Renewables, and Mobile
Air Pollution
First, here’s the
good news. The Senate and House overwhelmingly
passed HB 3693 by Rep.
Joe Straus III (R-San
Antonio), which includes the following:
• net metering for solar and other renewable
energy sources, an immediate doubling from 10 to
20 percent of the requirement that utilities meet
their growth in energy demand from energy efficiency
programs (with a promise for a study to look at
the possibility of going to 50 percent in the coming
years);
• a sales tax holiday on the sale of energy
efficiency appliances next Memorial Day weekend;
• a requirement that state agencies, political
subdivisions, and even school districts look at
their energy use and come up with a plan to decrease
it by 30 percent over the next six years; and
• a requirement that school districts use energy
efficient lighting and that state agencies purchase
energy star appliances.
Adding to the theme, provisions
were added to the mobile air sources pollution
control bill – SB
12 by Sen. Kip
Averitt (R-Waco) – for the
State Energy Conservation Office to adopt tighter,
more efficient building standards. In addition,
Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) added a provision
to begin a solar rebate demonstration project
in areas of the state served by investor-owned
utilities, although a funding source was not identified.
SB 12 also substantially improved the TERP – the
Texas Emissions Reduction Program – by extending
and expanding the program. The bill also extended
and expanded LIRAP – the Low Income Vehicle
Repair and Replacement Program – which will
allow citizens to receive incentives to purchase
cleaner cars when their vehicles fail emissions
inspections.
Of equal importance, the appropriations process
(HB 1) earmarked some $90 million for the LIRAP
program and $338 million for the TERP Program,
a gigantic increase to clean up mobile sources
of air pollution, a major priority for environmental
groups. The Clean School Bus Program, on the other
hand, only received $7.5 million over the biennium
to clean up school buses, substantially less than
had been requested by environmental advocates
and the statewide Parent Teacher Association.
Another provision to require
development of rules to enact energy efficient
standards for 10 consumer appliances was at
one point or another in both the House and Senate
version of SB 12, but was eventually stripped
out. “The gains
in terms of energy savings from the appliance
standards would have equaled 600 MWs by 2020,
or about the size of a small coal plant, but opposition
from the Texas Association of Business led conferees
to strip those standards out of SB 12,” explained
Sierra Club lobbyist Reed.
Renewable energy also
gained during the session. In addition to the
solar programs and provisions for net metering,
HB 1090, a biomass grant program bill, was improved
through the addition of language originally
introduced by Rep. Mark
Strama (D-Austin) as
HB 1282, which repealed “Section m” – a
provision in a previously enacted law that could
have undermined Texas’ renewable portfolio
standard by capping the amount of renewable energy
in which utilities are required to invest. Without
the removal of the notorious “Section m,” any
voluntary programs to increase renewable energy
would have lessened commitments made by giant
investor-owned utilities to invest in wind and
other renewables.
Opportunities Lost on Coal Plants
“As a person who had not been involved
in environmental issues until a coal plant was
proposed near my ranch, it became glaringly obvious
that there were problems in the permitting process
for such facilities and there was an absence of
a policy for energy in the state of Texas,” said
landowner Paul Rolke, from Robertson
County Our Land Our Lives. “When I reviewed the large
number of bills that attempted to address these
issues, my heart swelled and I realized that some
legislators were actually paying attention and
were attempting to deal with the problems. I was
gravely disappointed when it became clear that
the majority of the bills were not going to move
through the Legislature. I have gone from being
proud that the Legislature was going to take care
of the public health, to being outraged to realize
that influential Legislators did not take the
many opportunities to stop coal plant emissions.”
“The Texas Legislature has failed to protect
Texans from raging electric rates, the threats
of air pollution from 19 new coal plants, the
toxins emitted by industrial facilities and the
dramatic impacts of global warming,” said
Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith with Public
Citizen. “They
have taken modest steps forward by doubling the
amount of efficiency required by our utilities
in this State and by fixing flaws in last year’s
renewables bills. But overall, this legislature
gets an F for failing to protect us from industrial
pollution.”
Activists were close to
getting some victories. In the Senate, a bill
that created incentives for so-called advanced
energy projects had some basic permitting protections
to prevent the TCEQ from permitting any plants
that would impact the State Implementation Plan
or cause an attainment area to become non-attainment,
and require TCEQ to look at cumulative impacts
of power plants was stripped of all good amendments
by the conferees. Instead, the bill – HB
3732 -- that passed
the House has all of the incentives – but
none of the protections. The legislature saw the
crisis of coal plants looming and instead of protections,
offered up subsidies to coal plants, albeit those
meeting stricter emission limits than under current
law.
“There are still coal plants proposed
for Texas that threaten our air and our health.
If permitted, these plants will increase global
warming gases and toxic mercury pollution,” said
Karen Hadden with the SEED
Coalition and a protestant
in the contested case hearings against TXU’s
permits. “Legislators may have felt that
the KKR deal with TXU solved the problem, but
the coal rush continues and we needed Legislators
help more than ever. There were some good bills
to tighten permitting of coal plant emissions
but in the end they got blocked. This was not
surprising since TXU had roughly 100 lobbyists.”
Similarly, no progress
was made on increased regulation of toxic emissions – whether
on mercury from coal plants, or benzene and butadiene
from refineries. All toxic bills filed ultimately
died, even when they were added as amendments
to bills in one house or the other. In fact, the
House Environmental Regulation Committee only
heard one of the approximately 20 bills filed
on toxic issues.
Opportunities Lost on Global Warming
Global warming was not ignored. Bills were filed,
committee hearings were held, and a very modest
bill to look at some of the impacts of climate
change even passed the Legislature. But in the
end, the Legislature still maintained it was not
time to address global warming issues in a serious
fashion, despite public support in both political
parties for taking action.
SB 1687 by Sen.
Kirk Watson (D-Austin) passed
the Senate and would have required the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to come up with
cost-effective strategies to address global warming,
but the bill died in the House when the clock
ran out. Several attempts to add the legislation
in the House failed. More aggressive plans failed
to even get out of committee.
In fact, only two pieces
of legislation that passed even mention the
issue. SB 1762 by Sen.
Eliot Shapleigh (D-El
Paso) requires the Texas Water Development Board
to assess the impacts of climate change on water
supplies – but
only in the Rio Grande – while an energy
planning bill – HB
2713 by Rep. Dennis Bonnen
(R-Angleton) – will consider global warming
gas emissions as one of the factors when coming
back with recommendations to the Legislature in
2009. The energy planning bill – which requires
a public process through an interim committee – will
provide citizens the opportunity to call on their
legislature to finally address this issue.
Other Energy Issues – Radio
active Waste
Citizens were also involved in the legislative
process with three new bills which focus on radioactive
waste and uranium mining.
SB 1604 by Sen.
Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) consolidates management and
regulation of radioactive waste in a single
agency – TCEQ – rather
than three. While environmental groups initially
opposed the legislation because it eliminated
the rights of citizens to contested case hearings
on expansion of uranium mining operations, some
hard work by local activists, the environmental
lobby, and others led to a stunning 91-48 victory
in the House by Rep. Juan
Escobar (D-Kingsville)
to add contested case hearings back into the bill.
After some last minute negotiations a compromise
was reached that will continue to allow contested
case hearings, albeit with some limits.
Similarly, HB 3837 and HB 3838 by Rep.
Yvonne Gonzalez-Tourreilles, which regulate the initial
permitting of uranium mines, were originally opposed
as filed, but local pressure from Goliad County
and other areas suffering from uranium mining
led to negotiations which substantially improved
the bills. The bills will lead to new rules at
the state agencies for the initial permitting
process and better notification to local citizens
of upcoming permits.
Still, incentives for
the nuclear industry were also at play at the
Legislature. HB 1386 by Rep.
Phil King (R-Weatherford),
a bill which allows the nuclear industry to
spread the requirement to pay for the decommissioning
costs of nuclear plants over time – essentially a state subsidy
to make new nuclear plant construction cheaper – did
pass, although it was improved from its initial
version. A bill to allow nuclear plants to take
their school property taxes off the tax roll if
they expand – also passed, despite warnings
about the wisdom of giving tax breaks to an industry
that is already planning on expansion.
Citizen Involvement on the Upswing
Despite some disappointments in the 80th legislature,
one positive was the increase in communication
among local citizens, environmental groups and
the state legislature. The Coal Rush rally in
February was attended by legislators and legislative
staff. Local citizens spoke eloquently at committee
hearings.
“Twenty-two million Texans were depending
on the Texas Legislature to protect their lives,
homes, and families. The big disappointment of
this session is the failure of the Legislature
to show the leadership and political will to do
that,” said Bee Moorhead with Texas
Impact.
“The big hope,” Moorehead continued, “lies
in the fact that before and during this session,
people all over the state began interacting with
each other and with their legislators. Citizens
began collectively talking about what type of
environment and rules they want. We didn’t
get everything that we wanted, and we didn’t
get real important bills that we needed, but the
people of Texas did begin building relationships
with their legislators. Global warming is a big
motivator for many people. During the interim,
I think we’ll see normal citizens’ political
involvement grow.”
Moreover, the legislation that did pass will
allow local citizens to actually effect change.
Citizens can choose green power without decreasing
the amount of utility investment in renewable
energy; they can choose solar panels and be paid
money if they produce more than they consume;
they can purchase energy efficient appliances
without paying sales tax next Memorial Day weekend;
they can work with their local governments and
school districts to reduce energy use.
“The bills that passed are designed to
empower individuals to drive the market toward
more renewables and more energy efficiency. For
example, Texans can now purchase energy efficient
appliances on tax holidays and we can purchase
more green power,” said Ken
Kramer, Director
of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra
Club. “Now
that the Legislature is over, our organization
can return our attention to our very popular Sierra
Club Cool Cities campaign, which educates citizens
about clean energy and links our members with
local officials to improve their utilities and
local energy programs.”
