05 Feb Austin Energy Generation Plan: More Fossil Fuels

A brief public “brief”ing for the new Austin Energy Generation Plan was held at City Council February 4^th.  The brief overview – with no significant details – was clearly the intended goal.

It was a redacted version of what the Council heard from Austin Energy in executive session January 9^th. And it was brief because more than half of the meeting was taken up with executive session matters. Total public time: 5 Citizen Communication speakers at 3 minutes each = 15 minutes. Khalil Shalabi, VP AE followed the hour plus executive session delay with a 15-minute power point and perhaps 10 minutes of Council discussion.

Grand total: 40 minutes of citizen participation in hearing Austin Energy’s discussion of retiring Fayette coal plant – the 6^th largest emitter of CO2 greenhouse gas in Texas.

The shorthand version from AE:

Can’t close Fayette till 2025 – too costly because we still owe on the scrubber. Too costly, too difficult, too legal, too, too . . . they show no interest in doing anything but burning coal till the end.

They want an 800 MW new gas plant to ‘balance’ the load – even without closing Fayette’s 600 MW (Oh, and by the way – implied – we could also sell the excess generation to Houston via ERCOT and make naturalfrackinggas a cash cow for Austin).

The City Council mandated solar goals of 400 MW – with 200 MW being local – are simply ignored and shown in the report as 200 MW and 100 MW. (It’s not an oversight – Council has repeatedly pointed that this out and demanded the full amount.)

Wait for Carbon Tax at national level to push for reduced GHG emissions. (Please join Citizen's Climate Lobby.)

Weatherization, energy efficiency, solar, demand response, chilled water cooling are all relegated to a category of projects ‘supported’ by the coal plant.

You can hear the full briefing on line at:   http://austintx.swagit.com/play/02042014-631

It is clearly time for action!

Austin Beyond Coal is mobilizing – joining with a broad coalition of activists – the faith community, East Austin, veterans, solar activists, workers and many more. We all have a stake in reducing greenhouse gasses and making sure this big Fossil Fuel As Usual Plan is defeated by City Council.

Join the many concerned citizens in Austin who are fighting for truly clean energy:  Sierra Club's Austin Beyond Coal, Public Citizen, Interfaith Environmental Network, Environment Texas, SEED Coalition, Climate Buddies, Austin Climate Action Network, and others.

Call, write, tweet to the decision makers on City Council who represent your interests. Be heard on this critical issue for Austin's future.