Public Utility Commissioners to Vote on New
Rule
AUSTIN- Tomorrow
the Commissioners of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) will vote on a
proposed rule that will determine the fate of wind energy development in our
state. Last year, the State Legislature passed, and Governor Perry signed into
law, SB 20, a bill increasing the portion of renewable energy used by the state
and providing a mechanism to provide the transmission lines needed to bring the
renewable energy to market. After sixteen months of intensive rulemaking to
implement SB 20, on the afternoon before Thanksgiving the Public Utility
Commission released a new rule drastically weaker than the rule originally
drafted by the Commission staff.
Rather than
encourage wind energy development in Texas, which was the purpose behind the legislation, the new
rule will discourage the development of this vast resource that provides
economic development to rural communities and supplies clean, sustainable energy
for our state.
“This rule puts effectively puts a cap on
renewable energy development in the state. Not only is that against the
legislative intent of the bill the PUC is implementing, but Texas will lose the
additional economic and environmental benefits that accrue with more renewable
energy development,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, Director of Public
Citizen’s Texas office. “Wind
companies are investing in Texas, offering to provide clean
energy for our citizens. It is absurd the PUC would increase the costs of interconnecting to
the power lines to levels that no one would invest in building new wind plants
in the state In addition, it puts a numeric cap on
development of wind although there are 16,994 MW of wind plants that are asking
to be interconnected into our power lines.”
The new rule
makes it much harder for wind energy plants to connect to the electric grid than
for coal and gas plants. It increases the cost of a required financial
commitment from a wind company more than sixty times that proposed in the
original draft rule. Although SB 20 was reported to try to make it easier to
bring wind power to the market, the new financial deposit levels required of
wind companies are much higher than anything required of coal, nuclear, or gas
power plants.
“Wind energy has enormous environmental and
economic development benefits. With nineteen dirty coal-fired power plants
proposed for Texas, we cannot afford to turn wind companies away by making it
harder for wind power to connect to the electric grid than it is for other dirty
energy sources,” said Beth O’Brien, Clean Energy Organizer for Public
Citizen. “Wind supplies power to help
meet our increasing energy demands without polluting the air we breathe or the
water we drink and use for fishing and swimming.”
By polluting our
environment and poisoning our citizens, fossil fuel-generated energy creates
lasting problems for the state. Not only does it reduce the health and quality
of life for our citizens, it creates an economic burden in terms of
environmental clean up and healthcare costs. In comparison, wind energy does not
create any of these problems. Furthermore, wind power does not have any
associated fuel costs. An analysis by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
(ERCOT) shows that wind development throughout the state will produce enormous
fuel cost savings.
Transmission
lines, also called power lines, commonly last for more than forty years. While
the cost of building and upgrading transmission lines can easily be in the
hundreds of millions of dollars, the fuel cost savings achieved from wind power
can often exceed the cost of the transmission line in only two or three years.
For all of the following years, the wind power will provide hundreds of millions
of dollars of fuel cost savings to electric consumers. (More
examples)
“As the PUC
Commissioners vote on the new rule this Friday, they must consider the impacts
of their decision to Texas citizens, consumers and the environment.
Texas is facing rising electricity prices, increasing demand for
energy, and a toxin-contaminated environment that is damaging our health. Wind
energy is a sustainable resource, providing cost-effective energy without
producing harmful emissions. Texas is at a time where we need to be developing our vast
renewable energy resources, not discouraging that development,” said Luke
Metzger of Environment Texas.
“Environmentalist
support wind because its produces electricity without pollution, but we are
concerned that the projects are prescreened to assure that they won’t impact
birds or other types of wildlife and
that they continue to monitor the sites, and take remedial action if negative
impacts occur. The wind companies, bird watchers, and environmentalists had
submitted suggested language for inclusion to ask the Parks and Wildlife agency
to develop guidelines to protect wildlife. However, these simple recommendations
were rejected. We would like to ask that the Commissioners overrule their staff
and take action to protect our wildlife resources,” said Donna Hoffman of the
Sierra Club.
Public Citizen,
Environment Texas, and the Lone Star Sierra Club urge the PUC Commissioners to
vote against the rule before them tomorrow, or change the rule so that it
encourages responsible wind energy development—the reason the Legislature passed
and Governor Perry signed the bill into law that the PUC is charged with
implementing.
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