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Texas PUC approves additional wind capacity
July 17, 2008
Energy Current
The Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas today selected a transmission scenario that will eventually transmit a total of 18,456 MW of wind power from West Texas and the Texas Panhandle to metropolitan areas of the state.
The PUC selected Scenario 2, which is estimated to cost US$4.93 billion, or around US$4/month per residential customer once [...]
Texas lawmakers line up behind wind power
July 14, 2008
by Elise Hu
KVUE News
Texas lawmakers say wind energy is the ticket to the state’s economic future. But how much will wind power add to your electric bill?
"We could position ourselves in Texas to be the world leader in wind and renewable energy in the next hundred years," said State Rep. Mark Strama, (D) Austin.
This week state regulators will [...]
Watson wows Democratic faithful
June 12, 2008
by W. Gardner Selby
Austin American-Statesman
Second only to Nueces County delegates tossing out beach balls for activists to smack around the Austin Convention Center, the most surprising sideshow at the Texas Democratic Party’s convention may have been true-blue believers lining up to chat with the guy in charge.
The fellow shaking hands and signing programs and badges during breaks wasn’t the [...]
Democrats gather for state convention
June 7, 2008
by Kelley Shannon
Associated Press
Backers of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton showed up en masse Friday for the start of the Texas Democratic Party’s state convention and an attempt to unify after the bruising presidential primary season.
Caucus groups from around the state met all day — some cordial and quiet, others a little rowdy with opposing opinions flying [...]
Watson: Every kid is our cause
June 6, 2008
by Gary Scharrer
Houston Chronicle
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and former Austin mayor also welcomed convention delegates while highlighting some of the Democrats’ priorities - such as education, health care, the environment and investing "in highways instead of selling them to foreign countries."
And he got a rousing reception at his reference to the war with Iraq, which he [...]
Sunset review calls for more oversight of TxDOT
June 4, 2008
by Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, in a rebuke to the Texas Department of Transportation, called Tuesday for putting the agency on what amounts to a four-year leash.
The commission’s staff, citing complaints that the increasingly politicized agency has been "out of control" in pursuing its toll road agenda, released a report that recommends the creation [...]
CAMPO Decision Tree Takes Root
May 8, 2008
by Katherine Gregor
Austin Chronicle
"It’s a very significant point in the history of transportation planning in this community," heralded Sen. Kirk Watson. After five months, the Transit Working Group this week unanimously endorsed a new, improved Transportation Investment Decision Tree. By strengthening the evaluation criteria for assessing all proposed transit and road projects regionally, and setting a standard that [...]
Streetcar Blow-Up
May 1, 2008
by Katherine Gregor
Austin Chronicle
In place of position-based fights (transit lovers vs. road warriors), Watson has been advocating for a new process of data-based, rational decisions.
Federal study to look at coal plants’ impact on Austin air
March 19, 2008
by Elise Hu
KVUE News
State lawmakers are looking at smog solutions, now that federal clean air standards have been strengthened.
If Austin has trouble meeting the new smog standards, the Environmental Protection Agency will require it to develop a plan to cut down on pollution.
Local leaders say Austin’s pollution is not entirely its fault because coal plants to the [...]
$1 billion error caused cash crunch
February 6, 2008
by Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
The Texas Department of Transportation made a billion-dollar error, officials of the agency admitted Tuesday under stern questioning from legislators, a mistake they said contributed significantly to TxDOT’s sudden cash crunch.
TxDOT officials say agency planners inadvertently counted $1.1 billion of revenue twice, a mistake that caused them to commit to more road projects than the [...]
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