Going Green

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A New Widget on Texas Coal Wars

You will notice a new widget in my sidebar from SnagFilms about the "Texas Coal Wars." It links to a film by Robert Redford concerning the fight in Central Texas over a number of new coal plants that had been "fast-tracked" for construction by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Normally, I would be hesitant to include this type of link on this site because on the surface, it appears to be on the opposite side of the energy issue from that which I normally occupy. I think, however, that this particular film is very informative about the need for environmental responsibility in our energy development and how communities can work together to achieve a positive response that reaches toward the goal of responsible development that considers the environment as well as jobs and tax bases.

Below are some links that might be of interest (especially after viewing the film):

http://www.greendallas.net/pdfs/TCACC_EPA_Award_050808.pdf

http://www.pollutiononline.com/article.mvc/Texas-Clean-Air-Cities-Coalition-And-0002?atc~c=771+s=773+r=001+l=a&VNETCOOKIE=NO

http://www.thefeedstock.com/2006/09/texas_cities_form_coalition_to.php

http://www.susmangodfrey.com/news/2006-08-ClearAir.html

http://www.txu.com/about/

http://cbs11tv.com/entertainment/Laura.Miller.Movie.2.627518.html

7 comments:

sgreerpitt said...

Really interesting, Chris. I haven't had time to follow all the links you provide, but I did get a chance to view the video. It's a nice case study about community involvement and action. Given the stuff I did on my own dissertation (25 years ago) I find it particularly interesting that the land issue (for the train lines) was the key issue for many rural community members -- that was the key issue for many of the rural Appalachian residents that I interviewed. I look forward to checking out the other links when I have more time.

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

SBVOR: Thanks for dropping by and commenting.

SBVOR said...

Chris,

Thank you. You are a most gracious host.

Texas is the greatest state in the nation. Could you please annex New Mexico and Colorado?

P.S.) I apologize for mangling the English language. That sentence in my prior comment should have read:

“Now, here are the facts…”

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

SBVOR: You know, we used to have a big chunk of both of those states until we joined the Union. Ah, well -- that's the kind of trouble big debts will get you into....

You might be interested in a post that I did on another of my blogs titled: Food and Energy for Texas.

SBVOR said...

Chris,

You strike me as a pragmatist. So, I think you’ll understand when I say…

Eliminate the government subsidies and mandates and I love that photo. For now, I hate it.

We somehow managed the transition from the horse and buggy to the internal combustion engine without government subsidies OR mandates. And, if the idiot politicians will just get the heck out of the way, the private sector will find economically viable alternatives to our present solutions at the time when they are actually needed (which AIN’T right NOW or ANYTIME SOON).

There IS NO CLIMATE CRISIS, there IS NO PEAK OIL CRISIS and we are NOT on the brink of any ecological nightmare. We have DECADES in which to figure this out. We WILL get there, but ONLY if the idiot politicians (and their even more idiotic constituents) get the heck out of the way and let the private markets work.

In the meantime, we need for the idiot politicians to get the heck out of the way and let the energy companies “Drill Here & Drill NOW”.

Just my two cents… SBVOR

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

SBVOR: Subsidies -- I agree, dump them all -- wind, solar, bio-fuels, etc.

Mandates (RFS) -- raise my blood pressure....

SBVOR said...

Chris,

I recall (as if I ever forgot) why I find Texas and Texans so likable.

Among the various posts I’ve done on Climate Change, this one might be surprising to most.

I would like to do a similar analysis based on the Dome C location where the EPICA Ice Core studies were done. However, I cannot find a web page which offers recent temperatures at that site.