Democratic Party of Collin County
Environmental Issues Newsletter
May 05, 2009
Clean Energy & Green Job Legislation Update
*** SB 541 Action Alert ***


Hello Folks

Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee approved Senate Bill (SB) 541 by Senator Kirk Watson (D Austin). This bill will create a 3,000 megawatt (MW) goal for Emerging Technology Renewable Energy Sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, and up to 1,000 MW of renewable energy storage.

SB 541 is on the Calendar this week and the full Senate is expected to vote on it as early as Wednesday or (more probably) Thursday.

Some moderate Republican Senators have not yet made up their minds about which way they want to vote on SB 541 and SENATOR SHAPIRO is one of them!

Please contact Senator Shapiro today and ask her to VOTE YES FOR SB 541. Tell her you want us to stay competitive in emerging technologies and that you want more renewable energy developed here in Texas.

You can either phone or copy and paste the following sample letter below into your own email. Better yet, do both.

Remember it's important to be courteous! Also, make sure to fill in your name at the bottom of the email.

Best regards
Bob Fusinato
[Send questions, comments, or suggestions to BobFusinato@tx.rr.com]

CONTACT Senator Florence Shapiro,
 Phone: 512-463-0108
 Email:  florence.shapiro@senate.state.tx.us  

SAMPLE EMAIL or PHONE MESSAGE
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

May 5, 2009

Dear Senator Shapiro:

As your constituent, I urge you to vote YES for Senate Bill 541 this week on the Senate floor.

SB 541 would create a 3,000 MW goal for Emerging Technology Renewable Energy Sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, and up to 1,000 MWs of renewable energy storage.

Texas must stay competitive in the Emerging Technologies sector and SB 541 will help Texas stay at the leading edge of energy innovation.

SB 541 will create investments and generate new jobs in Texas.  It will diversify our resource base for producing electricity and save consumers money by reducing fuel usage.  At the same time, the bill contains cost caps by establishing a maximum compliance payment that is reduced over time for those retail electric providers that choose not to meet their requirements through investments or purchase of Renewable Energy Credits.

The wind power industry has pumped billions of dollars into the Texas economy. However, there is also huge potential for solar, and geothermal energy sources here in Texas. So we can and, for various reasons, should diversify our portfolio. Solar is particularly attractive because peak power is generated during the heat of summer when we need it most.

As you know, photo-voltaic cells, the kind we can put on our rooftops, represent a significant source of electricity from the more diffuse solar energy abundant throughout the state. But solar power will also be needed to help stabilize the power from wind farms in West Texas. Often when the wind is still, the sun shines bright and the wind blows strong when the sun is down. So it makes sense to have both sources feeding into the grid. Luckily, due to the abundance of sun and dry air, West Texas is a good place for concentrating solar power plants that can feed utility scale electric energy into the same transmission lines being built for the wind farms out there.

A recent report by SECO, the State Energy Conservation Office, found that Texas has MORE POTENTIAL RESOURCE to develop renewable energy than any other state in the nation.

While Texas is Number One in wind power generation capacity, we are not even in the top 10 for resources like geothermal, solar, and biomass. Other states -- like Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado -- are already developing large-scale solar power plants because of their foresight in adopting an emerging technology renewable energy portfolio standard.

We can do better.  A well crafted non-wind RPS will do for solar what the earlier RPS did for wind. SB 541 is the bill to do it.  

Please vote YES for SB 541 on the Senate floor this week.

Thank you, Senator Shapiro
 
Sincerely -- your constituent,
[YOUR NAME HERE.]

Note: To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please click - Unsubscribe -