Sheryl Crow and Laurie David are off on their Stop Global Warming College Tour this morning, two weeks on a bus, visiting college campuses and continuing to raise awareness for their crusade. (By the way, I totally agree with the observer who wrote that Laurie David has done more single-handedly to bring the issue of Global Warming to the forefront in America than any other person, including Vice President Gore.)
Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows as Wednesday saw Jim Dunnam and Rene Oliviera stumping on behalf of TXU on the House floor during the debate of SB 482.
Rumors are swirling about the motivation behind this interesting twist. Including the ever-popular "deal-making" and "selling out" accusations so popular during the spring of odd numbered years.
(Welcome our new front page writer! - promoted by Matt Glazer)
As you may have seen over the past week, TXU has decided to pay money to the Burnt Orange Report to place an ad that showcases their "greenness." On a related note, I hear Dennis Kucinich is running a fundraising ad over at the National Review.
Apparently us Texans are supposed to be pleased that TXU has scaled back their plans from building 11 coal-fired electric plants to 3. Which is like some guy threatening to kill you and then backing off by saying he only wants to cut off your right arm. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too happy about either of those scenarios.
UPDATE: Rep. Jim Dunnam just now asked a series of questions of Speaker Tom Craddick, making it clear that while Rick Perry is out of state, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is acting governor. Dewhurst could right now fire the Texas Youth Commission Board and place the troubled agency in conservatorship. Gov. Dewhurst?
Legislators vote to fire the Texas Youth Commission Board, despite Rick Perry's continued resistance and refusal to place the troubled agency in conservatorship. The Texas House overwhelming rejects Perry's deal with Merck and his HPV vaccination order.
Lawmakers want a moratorium on the boondoggle-shaped thing called the Trans Texas Corridor. Another Perry "privatization" scam, Accenture, bites the dust after the company fails miserably to get Texas kids the health care they need and deserve. Perry's fast-tracking of environment-destroying coal plants has cratered.
While Perry was refusing to place the TYC in competent hands, it would appear his entire administration is in a kind of conservatorship as the public and the Legislature try to repair the damage from his years in office. No modern governor has approached failures of this magnitude. Roads. Schools. Health care. Public safety. Environment. What is left?
If not yet convicted of moral terpitude, Perry has certainly become moral turpentine, dissolving the social fabric with his administration's lobby-ridden greed, graft and scandal.
It may not be long before the legislative branch realizes that since it is having to run the government, it may be time to get someone new to run the government. Impossible, you say? Probably, but it is no longer an idle question to wonder whether Perry will finish his term. And not because he's become vice president.
Now Perry is on a tour of the Middle East, and one has to wonder whether his passport shouldn't be revoked. If he can do this to Texas, what in hell will happen to that volatile area when Perry arrives?
Lon Burnam (D-Ft Worth) filed HB 1937 today, which seeks to bring serious attention to the excessive energy rate's in Texas, as well as the disproportionately large salary's of executive's at firm's like TXU.
Rep. Lon Burnam (D - Fort Worth) filed HB 1937 today. The bill would require electric companies with rates above 125% of the national average to pay their executives minimum wage. The national average is currently 10.2 cents per kilowatt/hour (kWh); TXU, for example, charges 15 cents for their standard rate offer. They would need to shave approximately two cents per kWh in order to continue paying their executives hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
It's time for Texas' electric companies to act more responsibly," said Rep. Burnam. It is simply unconscionable to pay a CEO over $50 million in a year when low-income people are struggling with all-time highs on their electric bills. The Legislature could send a clear message to TXU's new owners that the state of Texas will not tolerate this kind of corporate greed.
I assume most of you have seen the stats, nevertheless I think it's always good to keep this conversation on our agenda. Each time we read that the average CEO is earning 431 times that of the average employee, we are reminded of how important this issue really is. As long as so many Texas families are struggling to pay their ridiculously-priced energy bills, it is necessary that we expose the excessive salaries that are very much to blame for current costs. And though I believe strongly in the power of a free capitalistic and profitable society to encourage innovation, I feel we must establish a limit to which we are willing to allow our financial superiors to take advantage of the rest of us.
TXU Corp., the biggest power producer in Texas, accepted a $44 billion buyout offer led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group, a person familiar with the deal said.
The buyout firms will pay between $69 and $70 a share, or almost $10 more than the closing stock price at the end of last week, and will assume about $12 billion in debt, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn't been announced.
The companies that want to buy TXU Corp. would build only three of the 11 coal-fired power plants TXU has proposed, and would cut retail electricity prices, addressing two issues that fueled public outcry against the power company.
The buyers, Texas Pacific Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs, signed an unusual agreement with two environmental groups. They promised to scale back the coal plant building program - as well as to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
Congratulations to the Enviornmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, the League of Conservation Voters, bloggers and tens of thousands of activists who raised so much heat about coal plant permits they drove TXU out of the kitchen.
Trouble is, we may have driven TXU from the public sphere altogether, meaning less public scrutiny of the utility.
We learned today that the private equity firms seeking to take TXU private will drop plans to build 8 of 11 controversial coal plants if the deal is completed.
The climate emergency demands that stopping the plants be the priority. But is this deal, made, after all, in private negotiations with un-elected lobbyists for environmental groups, best for our future? I dunno.
Tuesday night I had the privilege of attending a YD meeting in Dallas. I have only recently learned the extent of their influence in the National Organization, and was surprised by an overwhelming energy in its membership. One item on the agenda seemed to strike everyone's attention; and it was not the coctail bar.
The fast-tracking of TXU's coal-fired power plants has started a strong dialogue among Texans, compelling many to seek alternative sources of energy, and demanding an implementation of proper power plant regulation screening procedures. Some of the dialogue is productive, bringing up wonderful ideals for alternative measures, while others lash out unproductively at an energy plan they simply can't understand. The dividing line is very thin.
Today we read that TXU has demanded that its most ardent opponent, Environmental Defense, pull its most recent attack ad.
TXU asked one of its main opponents on Wednesday to pull a TV ad that accuses the Dallas-based company of profiteering from rate hikes and planning 11 "massively polluting" coal-burning power plants.
The spat is the latest round in an expensive media war over plans by TXU and other power companies to build 16 coal plants in Texas. TXU plans 11 of those.
Environmental Defense should urge other power companies to follow suit "instead of misleading the public with scare tactics," he wrote.
TXU's new plants would emit 78 million tons of carbon dioxide per year in addition to the 55 million tons per year the company's existing plants emit. TXU is already the state's biggest carbon dioxide emitter.
Environmental Defense has since rejected TXU's demand, and the ad will remain on the air in the Dallas-Waco area.
In related news, Senator Kerry said he would soon propose legislation to prevent the construction of these power plants unless serious changes are made in emission levels. And believe it or not, certain candidates for mayor of Dallas have even refused to take contributions from TXU and thus it appears that the Texas utility monster may be losing its steam...
Now that Craddick's committees can meet, it can mean only one thing; the lobby can dig deep and feed these sell-out the finest that Austin eating establishments have to offer. In fact, they made it a committee meeting and invited everyone!
Got dinner plans tonight or tomorrow? If not, let me offer a couple of suggestions for fine Austin dining tonight, with your favorite Craddick Chair and his or her house committee.
If you're in the mood for swanky Italian, join Republican State Rep. Joe Driver and his House Committee on Law Enforcement at Carmelo's for dinner tonight. No, I'm not making this up - here's the committee posting
I'd recommend the $35 Costoletta di Vitello, "a tender 12oz veal chop filled with lobster meat and accompanied by Farro".
If $100 steaks are more your style, tonight you can join Craddick D, Ruth Jones McClendon and her House Committee on Rules and Resolutions at (the appropriately named) Ruth Chris' Steakhouse.
"When you visit Ruth's Chris, you soon understand that this is no ordinary restaurant. From the U.S. Prime steaks, broiled to perfection at 1800 degrees, to the expertly executed seafood, New Orleans-inspired appetizers, unforgettable desserts and award winning wine list, this is a steakhouse to which others aspire."
If investments and banking is more your cup of tea, you're in luck! Tonight you can join Republican State Rep. Burt Solomons and his House Committee on Financial Institutions for dinner at Austin Land and Cattle.
If tonight's a bad night for you, you're in luck because the gravy train is running tomorrow night as well. Tomorrow night you can join Republican State Rep. Rick Hardcastle and his House Committee on Energy Resources at Ruth Chris'.
Five bucks says this one is getting paid for by dirty coal plant lobbyists for TXU…
Seriously, we want pictures! Send us pictures of Craddick chairs sipping some pinot or smokin' a stoggy. Send us pictures of Buddy Jones, Bill Miller, Bill Messer, Mike Toomey, or Bill Ceverha picking up the check. They'll be front paged tomorrow!
