Texas Lawmakers Introduce Clean Power Green Jobs Bills

During this session, Texas legislators are looking at close to 100 bills filed on renewable energy, double the number filed during the last legislative session.

Twelve of the bills propose specific goals for increasing solar power, geothermal, renewable bio-mass, and small-scale wind.

Lucio and Gallego filed identical bills that would raise the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard. The measures would increase electrical utilities' renewables generating capacity from resources other than "high capacity wind" to 4,000 megawatts by the year 2020.

"We have met our goals for wind and we are very fortunate in Texas to have massive clean energy resources besides wind," said Senator Lucio. "This legislative session, five different senators - Republicans and Democrats, urban and rural, and six different representatives - Republicans and Democrats, urban and rural agree."

Wind turbines on the King Mountain wind farm north of McCamey, Texas (Photo by Todd Spink courtesy NREL)

"We have all introduced legislation that would raise the Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring utilities to give Texans the clean energy they are asking for and industries are prepared to deliver - technologies like solar power, geothermal energy, and renewable biomass," Lucio said.

"The time is now to tap the powerful, clean energy resources that we have and to create green jobs for Texans," he said.

Representative Gallego pointed to a recent report by the State Energy Conservation Office, the "Texas Renewable Energy Resource Assessment" which states that Texas leads the nation in total wind, solar, biomass and geothermal resources.

As of September 2008, the assessment states, Texas had 5,871 megawatts of installed wind capacity; more than double that of California, the state with the next highest level of installed capacity.

But Texas’ installed wind capacity comprises only about four percent of the state’s estimated developable wind capacity, so there is plenty of potential for additional growth, according to the assessment. The same is true for Texas’ other renewable energy resources including solar, biomass, and geothermal.

Of the state’s enormous developable solar and geothermal capacity, Texas has only begun to scratch the surface with large-scale and small-scale, distributed projects developed to date.

"The legislation that Senator Lucio and I have introduced sets the stage for clean energy and green jobs in all regions of the state," Gallego said.

"These technologies will draw on the strong power of the Sun in south and west Texas. These industries will tap the earth's geothermal energy along the coast and in west Texas; and we can add carefully sustainable biomass resources from east Texas and other parts of the state," said Gallego.

"We can power our homes and businesses with clean energy and put Texans to work doing it," he said.

Spokespeople from the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Texas Business for Clean Air, and the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association welcomed all of the bills.

"We are delighted with the number of bills filed that will promote clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create the green jobs we desperately need in Texas," said Cyrus Reed with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. "We are confident that the legislators will work out how to agree on these highly valuable goals."

A new study commissioned by Texas Business for Clean Air shows that Texas has some breathing room as it considers its energy future, but that the state needs to make wise decisions to assure the supply of electricity meets increasing demand in a green manner.

The study by Rice University atmospheric scientist Daniel Cohan concludes that Texas is well positioned for the anticipated growth of its population over the next few decades.

With sufficient generation of electricity to handle its current needs and more renewable resources coming online, the state is acting aggressively through a $5 billion investment to add transmission capabilities, Cohan's report points out.

"Our analysis shows that cost-effective efforts to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy and demand response could offset virtually all projected growth in peak demand through the year 2023 and beyond," said Cohan, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering.

"The cost of renewable power is coming down and becoming much more competitive even than our traditional energy sources," said Reed. "With the Obama administration considering a much further-reaching renewables requirement, Texas is perfectly poised to step forward and lead in the solar, geothermal, and sustainable biomass fields."

Renewable energy advocates in the state recognize that with the growing number of industrial players ready to deliver the state's clean energy capacity and with many legislators stepping up to the task, political agreement is the last remaining door to be opened.

Said Tom 'Smitty' Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office, "It takes more than luck to reap the renewable energy future, it takes planting the seeds for success and nurturing them."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.