Director's Message

In my May message, I mentioned newsletter column inches devoted to deriding the Legislature, but the real point was to emphasize the exciting things happening outside of the Capitol - and goodness, there’s a lot of goodness afoot across the state. That same month, Georgetown announced plans to go 100% renewable. That was national news, bigger than Burlington, VT, and Aspen, CO, and more ambitious than Palo Alto, CA. I just love when Texas leads on things that aren’t embarrassments. This month, San Antonio continued progress, adding 50 MW to its 134 MW of solar (on the way to 500 MW), and Austin  committed to reach approximately 600 MW of solar by the end of 2016. Finally, the City of Denton recently increased their 40% renewables targets to 70% by 2019.

A lot of work remains to be done. To enable more cities to follow suit, more transmission and energy storage are needed to make solar and wind more accessible and flexible. As cool, and more importantly, economical, as these technologies are, we still have to reduce demand - to wit, the State Energy Conservation Office proposed rules earlier this month that would update the minimum energy codes in Texas for new construction to 2015 standards. We worked hard to transform bad legislation this year that would have preempted cities from updating energy standards. While the compromise bill we helped get passed isn’t perfect, it does move Texas in the right direction. Please support these rules by signing our petition before November 2.

On the topic of cool things and conservation, I’m totally jazzed to announce the addition of Ruthie Redmond to the Chapter staff. Ruthie will be working on water conservation issues with Jennifer Walker on our Texas Living Waters Project. Give Ruthie a shout out when you get a chance.

I love having stuff to brag on about my beautiful state.

State Energy Conservation Office Proposes Updating Texas Energy Codes

In a welcome development, the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) proposed rules earlier this month that would raise the minimum energy codes in Texas for new construction to 2015 standards. The proposed rules – published in the Texas Register on October 2 – would finally bring Texas level with many other states by requiring that any new home, commercial, or industrial building in Texas meet 2015 standards beginning in September of next year. It’s not too late to show your support for stronger energy codes! Click here to take action and support raising the codes in Texas by sending comments to SECO before November 2.

Sierra Club Welcomes Ruthie Redmond to the Lone Star Chapter

We are pleased to introduce Ruthie Redmond as the Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter’s Water Resources Specialist. Ruthie will focus on water policy issues across Texas including water conservation, drought response, sustainable groundwater management, and river and estuary protection. Ruthie previously interned with the U.S. Forest Service as a Forestry Technician in Loa, Utah, and with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in Air Quality as an Engineering Technician before becoming a Natural Resources Specialist in the Water Availability Division of TCEQ in 2012.

EPA's Carbon & Haze Pollution Safeguards: Should Our Grid Operator Be This Worried?

In a packed meeting last week at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), regional planning staff presented analyses of the effect of two new environmental regulations on the ERCOT grid and Texas power plants -- the new limits on regional haze pollution and the Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution. While it’s important for ERCOT to analyze the result of complying with EPA safeguards in advance, the reports would be more useful if they made assumptions that better reflect reality. Conservation Director Cyrus Reed dives deep, finding that the reports completely ignore new technologies and resources that could help transition away from fossil fuels with minimal problems and maximum benefits. In addition, in the case of the haze pollution analysis, the report assumes a worst-case scenario where existing generation retires in one area, and no generation is added in that same area, leading to reliability concerns that are extremely unlikely.

Carman: Largest Texas Cities Need to Clean Up Smog

The major Texas urban areas of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria have had the worst ozone (aka smog) pollution in the state since the 1970s, when ozone monitoring began. In fact, these two areas have had among the nation's worst smog for decades. While it's true that smog levels have declined (thanks to EPA standards) with cleaner vehicles, less factory pollution, and cleaner energy, Texas has a long ways to go to achieve clean air. What does the new ozone standard mean for these areas and other urban areas across Texas?

Austin Approves A Lot More Solar

Wow, what a month for the City of Austin and solar energy! In two separate sessions, the Austin City Council voted to approve resolutions directing the city’s utility, Austin Energy, to contract the purchase of nearly 450 megawatts (MW) of solar power! Add that to the 150 MW solar power plant already under construction, and Austin will have close to 600 MW of new solar energy powering the city by the end of 2016! These contracts bring the city to within 150 MW of its 2025 goal for solar power. For that remaining chunk, the city directed Austin Energy to see if it could get it affordably by the end of 2019. Conservation Director Cyrus Reed lauded Austin City Council’s bold action, and complimented Mayor Adler and council members for their receptiveness to citizens and stakeholder groups urging more solar investment while maintaining and improving upon affordability goals.

UT Poll: 3 Out of 4 Americans Acknowledge Climate Change

At a time when Texas representatives in Washington are denying scientific evidence on climate disruption, and the state is leading a massive lawsuit against the EPA over the Clean Power Plan, a new poll by the University of Texas at Austin says more than 3 out of 4 (76 percent) Americans believe climate change is occurring. This is an increase from 68 percent just one year ago, with 90 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans (up from 47 percent six months ago) now believing global warming exists. That’s a 12 percent increase among Republicans. Our Media & Communications Intern, Evan Waring, has more.

Is El Paso Electric Being Two-Faced on Solar?

El Paso’s electric utility is in the middle of a rate case, a periodic process where they make their pitch to the Public Utility Commission why they want to change what they charge their customers. This process has opened up a curious if not strange behavior from a utility that is supposed to be supportive of solar energy. Indeed, they almost seem two-faced. Sometimes they seem to like solar, but in their proposed rate case, they would create a new rate class of people and hit them with huge rate increases. Who would be in this new rate class? People who have dared to put solar on their homes in the past or are thinking about it in the future. Conservation Director Cyrus Reed dove into the details to figure out what’s going on.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the proposed Annova LNG export terminals near Brownsville will destroy 30 years of progress to protect the endangered Texas ocelot.
• On November 5, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will consider the acquisition of approximately 6,554 acres in Matagorda County for the conservation of coastal fish and wildlife habitat. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed transaction before the Commission takes action. Click here for more information.
• One word: Plant-a-thon! Or is that three words? Either way, it sounds great! Join the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other volunteers in Houston on November 14 to help restore native prairie by planting 2,500 at Sheldon Lake State Park.
• Terry Burns, Co-Chair of the Alamo Group, penned this great rebuttal to a pro-Vista Ridge Commentary by former San Antonio City Council Member Weir Labatt.
• The Dallas County Commissioners voted 5-0 on a resolution calling on the bankruptcy judge handling Energy Future Holdings Corp.'s (EFH) case to clean up three outdated coal plants as part of the company's reorganization.