Dear Editor,
I enjoyed your article about the Austin Council resolution on buying carbon-free electricity for Austin Energy [“
Public Notice: Drama on the High Seats,” News, Sept. 5]. (Your line about my opposition being the fourth sign of the Apocalypse was hysterical.) And you got most of the context right.
But, I do want to clarify that I did not specifically side with Austin Energy, except to oppose the resolution. I am on neither the side of the activists nor the utility.
Last month, I sent a letter to the Generation Task Force about their report on which the resolution was based. I said:
"To a great degree, what you have presented to date is more like an undocumented wish list.
The report easily requires several months of continued work to draw the map that is necessary.
I encourage you to ask City Council for the time necessary to complete your work to this standard. … It is important that Austin provide an example for the developed nations of the world, and continued refinement of the task force’s ideas will make this more likely."
There needs to be a credible plan for clean energy if we are to convince the electorate to go in our direction.