Rick Perry is pushing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to "fast-track" 19 new, dirty coal-fired power plants. With more than half of Texans living in areas where the air fails to meet federal minimum health-based standards, an additional 124.5 million tons of carbon dioxide in the skies over Texas each year is the last thing we need.
More information, fact sheets, handouts, sample letters, and scripts are available at www.stopthecoalrush.com.
Texas State Capitol, 11th and Congress Ave. South Steps.
Where: 11th and Congress Ave. Austin, TX When: 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
The will of the state is strong, but our social safety net is weaker than ever. With constant cuts to CHIP, our state dropout rate is near 40%, the cost of tuition steadily increasing, and electricity costs climbing, our desire for a better Texas is hampered by the Republican attempt to "drown government in the tub".
Today our state is strong and resources are plentiful, but our Governor has still required all state agencies to cut their budgets by 10 - 20%. Each percent is one less kid on CHIP, less money for teachers, one more park the Governor tries to sell, or one more aquifer drained.
The legislature has been handcuffed by poor leadership and horrid public policy. The pay to play policies created by the current leaders in Texas Government has gone on to long. The laundry list of insider deals is tragic: Black Gap State Park, Trans-Texas Corridor, the HPV Vaccine.
The solutions are simple. Our legislature and voters have said they want to save our parks. Remove the cap on the sporting goods tax and appropriate the money from the specialty license plates.
Fully restore CHIP. Children's health insurance should not be a political game. Texas should make it easier for families to get on CHIP and restore the cuts this Governor has required.
We don't need to give 80% of the market to one electric company. TXU does not need 11 new plants. With current programs and funding for conservation we can meet our short term goals and spend the interim to figure out a better long term solution. The Governor's fast track means a power monopoly in Texas. If you think bills are high now, wait until the Governor has given you no other choice but TXU.
Texans were promised a check in the mail and dramatic cut in property taxes. Have either happened for the average Texan? We have the ability to do more and still fix the state's education woes. Instead of saving a nickel on property taxes OR fixing our schools, why not solve both problems. There are smart people that have solutions, let's fix the problem.
We have the money and the will to make this state better. We have committed members, agencies, and staffers. The will of the state is strong, but our Governor's policies are not. It is time for leadership not excuses. The State of the State is promising, but only if leadership prevails over corruption and cronyism.
Seeing that number at the end of election, would normally send your heart through the floor if you are the lucky politician to receive it. It would normally mean the people of Texas don't want you representing them anymore. But not in the case of Rick Perry, who became just the 3rd Texas Governor to win with less than 40% of the vote.
With 5 opponents receiving votes this past November, Governor Rick Perry's losing effort turned into reelection. And on this glorious Tuesday January 16th, he will be sworn in again and become Texas's longest sitting leader during this term.
But what does it say to a leader when the majority of the voters said no? 61% of your state wanted you gone! Is it time to listen to your opponents, because you have no mandate?
Just over 1.7 million people voted to reelect Rick Perry. There were 13,074,279 voters registered for the election. Only 33.6% of them even bothered to show up. That means really only a third of a third of Texas is with him. Of course, when some of those people are reporters for major state newspapers, who else do you need supporting you right?! That seems to be the basis of the Perry Doctrine.
Even though I'm a heck of a nice guy, no one has ever given me $30,000. Granted, I also wasn't Tom DeLay's number 1 crony, I don't lobby for Jim Leininger, I'm not bankrupt, and I certainly don't oversee a state fund valued right around $20 billion.
"Bankrupt" Bill Ceverha is at it again. You remember Bankrupt Bill - the indicted, corrupt, bankrupt former treasurer of Tom DeLay's TRMPAC who Tom Craddick appointed to the ERS board where he has a fiduciary duty for, oh, about $20 billion dollars.
Most recently, bankrupt Bill has made headlines for inspiring the ridiculous ruling issued by the Texas Ethics Commission that stated public officials don't have to disclose the value of a check they receive as a gift, if it's over $250. You see, when bankrupt Bill got into trouble, some of Tom DeLay's other minions, like Bob Perry, got out the checkbook and ponied up to the tune of $100,000. Ceverha disclosed the gift as a "check" but didn't put the amount. The TEC, in their infinite wisdom, ruled that was perfectly acceptable.
One of our House Democratic heroes, Lon Burnam, has relentlessly pressed the case against Ceverha and the corrupt right-wingers with whom he shares the sack. Last week, in a letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott, Burnam asked the AG to look into 3 other cash "gifts". It seems as though a couple of $50,000 just don't go quite as far as they used to. You see, bankrupt Bill has now become the charity of choice for other Republican stalwarts, right up there with "orphanages, foster homes and educational foundations…".
As Burnam points out in his most recent letter, Ceverha has taken an additional $30,000, over and above the $100,000 given by Perry, from Republican heavyweights Harlan Crow, Boone Pickens, and Earl Nye. Real Estate mogul Crow gave $15,000 to the Ceverha cause. Oil tycoon and water barron Pickens threw in a cool $10,000, suggesting OSU football is about 16,500 times more important to Boone than Ceverha ever will be (although I'm sure bankrupt Bill would pimp for naming rights if he could). And Nye, the former Chairman of coal-crazed TXU, gifted Ceverha $5,000 (never mind that ERS and Nye both own a ton of TXU stock).
They always said you can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep around.
I'm sure Abbott will toss this request - kinda like he ignored Burnam's previous request regarding the ERS-KCI-Leininger stock scandal. Can't exactly move up the Republican ranks by investigating Republican mega-donors like Perry or Leininger, right Greg?
A case far from District 19 has implications for electrical power availability here on the high plains. South and east from here lies Robertson County, where TXU wants to build a new coal-fired electrical power plant. The reason TXU wants to use coal is simple: It owns nearby coal mines. It simply wants to maximize its profits - which is what corporations do.
Two administrative judges are recommending to the Tx Commission on Environmental Quality that the permits for building this coal plant not be approved. Why? Because the pollution from the burning coal will not be contained based on the plans currently submitted by TXU. This is not news to TXU - it isn't news to anyone. TXU certainly has the engineering know-how to submit a plan that would meet environmental standards, but they just don't want to. They'd rather try and see what the minimum they can get away with is.
The following is the first in a three-part series about the 17 newly proposed coal plants for Texas. Protest the coal plants this Friday, at noon, at the Capitol.
Late Thursday, two administrative judges of the State Office of Administrative Hearings recommended denying the permit to one of TXU's newly proposed coal plants. The ultimate fate of the Oak Grove plant, which is considered to be among the dirtiest of the 17 newly proposed power plants in Texas, still lies with the Texas Commission on Environmental Equality, though the judges' recommendation is expected to carry great weight with their decision. From the Dallas Morning News:
Oak Grove is the first new TXU coal plant to go before the State Office of Administrative Hearings in Austin for a formal review. While other proposed plants will get individual hearings, the Oak Grove recommendation could signal problems for other plants...
Such recommendations, while not binding on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, typically carry great weight when the agency's commissioners rule on disputed permits...
"This is a major victory for people who live downwind of proposed major power plants like this 1,720-megawatt monster," said Tom "Smitty" Smith of Public Citizen, one of the groups fighting the new coal plants. "Citizens who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Waco and Austin who would have been affected by the emissions from this proposed plant can take a deeper breath as a result of this decision."
Texas coal plants already create more pollution than any other in the country (see list here). The new Oak Grove plant would only compound the problems, and the judges' ruling should hope to carry serious weight with the TCEQ -- unless Governor Perry keeps his dirty promise to keep our electricity rates high to help his coal plant buddies and continues to fast-track the permitting process.
TAKE ACTION NOW! This Friday at noon, environmental groups and concerned citizens from across the state will gather to protest the new coal plants at the State Capitol in Austin. I personally spent several hours handing out announcements last night, along with Smitty and others from Public Citizen, at Zilker Park's Blues on the Green. Show up, show your support, and let's continue to make this an issue. As the ruling showed, this battle is far from over!
In the next week, I'll be writing a series about the 17 newly proposed coal plants in Texas, so stay tuned for more news and information.
