| Why is El Paso Electric selling solar energy to New Mexico and not Texas?
The answer is simple: New Mexico's Democratic governor Bill Richardson actively supports renewable energy. Texas's Republican governor Rick Perry doesn't.
NRG and eSolar are teaming up to build a 92MW plant in southern New Mexico, with the ability to power over 16,000 homes. El Paso Electric, which serves much of Southwestern NM, will distribute the energy to customers in New Mexico, and not Texas. Why the Land of Enchantment and not the Lone Star State? From the Dallas Morning News:
NRG will build the project in New Mexico before Texas partly because New Mexico has incentives for solar. The Texas Legislature failed to pass solar incentives in the most recent session.
"I think that there was some very good legislation that all got bottled up in the last week," Howell said.
While NRG hasn't ruled out building in Texas and is considering property near Houston, it's worth noting that Texas Republicans' lack of active support for renewables is hurting our economy as bad as it's hurting our planet. Rick Perry claims to like solar, but won't do anything that will curtail profits for the oil and gas industry. Thus, no incentives for solar. No active development of the solar industry in Texas.
NRG and eSolar are working to develop up to 500 MW of solar thermal power across the Southwestern United States. That 500 MW means the creation of green-collar jobs, scientific research and development, and even a potential reduction in energy costs, for residents, institutions, and businesses alike. (It's also really, really good for the planet, but don't tell the Republicans.)
What drives me the most berserk about these news stories is that on dozens of neo-liberal, free-market-loving, energy-industry-cheerleading websites across the Internet, people applaud solar infrastructure. They do this not because they're rabid environmentalists, necessarily, but because it's good business.
Republicans: if you actually believe in the free market, you should support renewable energy. Instead, they question global warming, mock established science, and keep handing giveaways to the fossil fuel industry.
It can't last forever! By unnecessarily politicizing renewable energy, Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Texas Republicans are hurting our state's economy at a time when we could be poised to develop the future of our energy industry. They're diddling the base while opportunity and the atmosphere burn. Yes, Texas relies heavily on oil and gas. Yes, we're a leader in wind. But why not become a leader in solar, too? If everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas, why can't that include our production of solar energy?
Solar could be the best thing to happen to the Texas economy since the discovery of all that oil. Unfortunately, that oil is going to run out, not just in Texas, but world-wide. On the other hand, the Sun isn't supposed to run out of energy for billions of years. Thanks in part to terrible policies like this, we sure can't say the same thing for the Texas Republican Party. |
