• Texas is approaching a critical crossroads when it comes to wind power. Legislators have directed the Texas Public Utilities Commission to address inadequate power line capacity between the state’s large cities and West Texas, which is seeing a bonanza of investors building new wind farms. The PUC is considering three scenarios for new line construction, ranging from a beefy $6.4 billion, 18,000-megawatt plan to a less ambitious $3.8 billion, 5,150-MW version. A bipartisan total of 49 legislators has joined statewide enviro groups in backing the most ambitious plan, along with utility giants like Duke Energy, diversifying oil and gas companies like BP and Shell, and investors such as T. Boone Pickens. Not surprisingly, big utilities profiting from cheap coal, including Luminant (formerly TXU) and San Antonio’s municipal utility, are lining up behind the wimpy plan, as are trade groups representing folks like ExxonMobil and Halliburton, which profit from the expensive natural gas currently generating nearly half of Texas’ electricity. Übergreen Austin Energy is curiously backing the midrange scenario. Discussions continue in Austin this week, and a final decision is expected in August. – Daniel Mottola
• Citing decades of unchecked emissions of hazardous airborne toxins (including carcinogens like benzene) from Gulf Coast oil refineries and chemical plants, the city of Houston has formally petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with a Request for Correction of Information. The petition charges that the current system “has been proven inaccurate, unreliable, and biased toward undercounting” and references studies showing actual emissions from refineries and chemical plants to be 100 times greater than EPA estimates, while nine toxic chemicals found in Houston’s air individually present a “definite health risk.” Elena Marks, Houston’s director of health and environmental policy, said plant operators emit “significantly” more toxins per barrel refined in Houston compared to plants they own elsewhere, and that recent state data shows air in some neighborhoods to contain 200 times the level of benzene considered to be safe. “We have the responsibility of reducing these hazardous compounds in our air and holding emitters accountable,” said Houston Mayor Bill White in a statement. “We have got to have accurate data to accomplish that. The technologies exist, are in use, and they are affordable.” Read the 27-page petition at www.greenhoustontx.gov/reports.html. – D.M.
• Mohave Co., Ariz., jail spokeswoman Trish Carter says polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs, incarcerated leader of the breakaway Mormon sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “appears to be doing just fine” – walking around the exercise yard and drinking plenty of fluids – a week after he was taken to the hospital. Jeffs was convicted of rape-as-accomplice in Utah for his role in arranging marriages between underage girls and older men and is awaiting trial in Arizona on similar charges. Last week, he was rushed to the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, about 100 miles from the Arizona jail, for treatment of an “unknown medical condition,” reports the Associated Press. Carter told the wire service that Arizona officials were “not told what [Jeffs’] diagnosis is,” but said that he was found by jail officials in his cell on July 8 in a “weakened state of health, acting in a convulsive manner, shaking, and running a fever.” – Jordan Smith
• The money race is in full swing in Texas’ U.S. Senate race, and regardless of what spin from either camp proclaims, here are the raw numbers: Incumbent Republican John Cornyn raked in almost $1.6 million in contributions in the quarter ending in July (bringing him to more than $15 million for this election cycle), and he’s currently sitting on a war chest of $9.4 million. Democratic challenger Rick Noriega did pretty well comparatively for the quarter, reporting $930,457 in contributions, but he is sitting on only about one-tenth the cash on hand as his opponent: $915,506. Meanwhile, in Congressional District 10 – which stretches from Austin to Houston – things look more competitive. Incumbent Republican Michael McCaul took in $306,443.86, but $60,000 of that was a loan from McCaul to his campaign. Discount that, and McCaul and Democratic challenger Larry Joe Doherty were neck-and-neck, McCaul taking in $246,139.50 and Doherty $247,280. McCaul now has $489,054.97 in cash on hand, while Doherty is sitting on $259,792.10. In District 31 – stretching from far North Austin up to Stephenville – Democratic challenger Brian Ruiz has a tougher row to hoe. He took in only $12,595.33 and now has $1,055.59 on hand, while Republican incumbent John Carter received $126,951.87 and enjoys $274,233.13 in the bank. – L.N.
This article appears in July 18 • 2008.