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Press Release: Wind Power Critical for Texas' Future |
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Written by DC Tedrow
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008 |
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From a press release via the Common Dreams NewsWire: AUSTIN, Texas - July 14 - A coalition of public interest groups and legislators Monday urged the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) to build more wind power transmission lines, saying that is the best way to reduce energy costs for Texas residents. A $6.4 billion investment in transmission lines, which would last 50 years, could reduce power prices by more than $3 billion a year, said the coalition, which included Public Citizen, West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, Texas Impact, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, Texas Senator Kirk Watson, (D-Austin), and Texas Representatives Mike Villarreal (D- San Antonio) and Mark Strama (D-Austin). The PUC is expected to discuss the issue on Thursday, July 17.
Wind power could also increase jobs across Texas: A study by the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium looked at the number of jobs created at various levels of expansion. It used the impact of wind power in Nolan County as the basis for its analysis. Nolan County stands as the epicenter of Texas’ wind energy industry. Along with the adjacent counties of Scurry, Taylor, Mitchell and Coke, the Sweetwater region is home to well over half of all operational wind energy production in Texas and about 15 percent of all U.S. wind energy operations. If it were a state, Nolan County would rank as the second largest for wind energy operations. Strama added, "Wind has been good for job creation all across Texas, already creating new jobs at manufacturing plants in more than a dozen communities from Nacogdoches to El Paso, four new research and development facilities, four new operations and maintenances centers, and increased shipping through five Texas ports from Corpus Christi to Beaumont. This study shows that if we were to build the renewable superhighways and fully develop 25,000 megawatts of wind, the wind-producing regions of Texas could see as many as 11,000 jobs, $145 million annually in local taxes, and over $122 million annually in landowner royalties."
According to another press release, green energy jobs have increased while coal industry jobs have declined.
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