Texas Today

Last minute, but, thanks to this very site I was contacted by a media group in Austin for my pictures from the TXU protest last Earth Day. This documentary is narrated by Robert Redford and will be shown in Dallas at the AFI International Film Festival tomorrow afternoon March 29th at 4:00pm at the Dallas Museum of Art Horchow Auditorium. Be sure to check it out if possible!

Tonight is the Live Earth Concert spreading awareness about the effects Global Warming has placed upon us. What better time than to call up our elected ( not with the help of me that’s for damn sure) official ,Governor Rick Perry. Yep, call him up while tuning into the all-star lineup on NBC and leave a message urging him to please support reducing our global warming pollution by 2050. (832) 603-4712 to leave your message for the sponsored Environment Texas phone Jam.

Thanks to the on going pressure of people like you, Governor Rick Perry signed the bill HB 2714. This is limited to monitors, desktop and laptop computers. However, House author Rep. Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) committed to support legislation in 2009 that will provide recycling for televisions. We are the 4th state in the last 2 months to join.

Everyone has more than likely seen some form of advertisement for the “new and improved” TXU correct? Wednesday June 13th TCEQ held a meeting for the 2 proposed Oak Grove coal plants with TXU being given the green light to speed up the building process with the first slated to open in 2009.
I had the chance to visit these sites on Earth Day and I feel for the locals and surrounding areas. It was such a beautiful site.On occasion pictures speak louder than words. In this case I truly believe they do.
Long before this week these disastrous plants were already well on their way to becoming the most disturbing and dirtiest among the state as applications were being accepted and steel beams built stories tall. Just land prep? Hardly.
What about the air quality you wonder? Apparently causing severe cases of asthma and birth defects not to mention numerous others isn’t really too harmful. The emissions control equipment they would use hasn’t even been proven to work with Texas lignite. On top of that,the technology to cut nitrogen oxides and mercury hasn’t been used on native fuel either. A few opinions from TXU engineers saying it ” would probably work” as well as a commitment from them to review the plant’s actual emission in 2 years after operation has begun was enough for chairwoman Kathleen Harnett White and H.S. Buddy Garcia ( the latest commissioner appointed by Mr.Perry) to let the smoke start stacking.
TXU Corp. improved? I think not. Still at it’s old foolish ways? Yes, indeed.

The House and State Legislature have passed HB 2714 and recycling of TVs in 2009!!! What’s this all about? Electronic companies have been producing massive amounts of product with no proper disposal system. Yeah, our old PCs have been stock pilling in a landfill somewhere filled with toxic materials such a lead, mercury and brominated flame-retardants (the new PCBs) and leaking into our own health! Producers would be required to take back and recycle their obsolete products if Mr.Perry signs the bill..Here is where you come in. June 17th is the last day to sign so please call, fax, email, write a letter and stick in in the mail TODAY and urge him to put the pen to paper!! More importantly, by this bill passing we would be the very first red state to do so and the 5th overall for this program!! Yeah, this would make us #1 in something!!! Go ahead and do it, you know you want to!
The State Governor Contact info:

Address: The Honorable Rick Perry

Governor’s Office

P.O. Box 12428

Austin TX 78711

Toll free number ( if you are calling before 5 please stay on the line to be connected to a live person) 1-800-252-9600

Fax:(512) 463-1849

Electronic form online by visiting here http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact

Sunday is Earth Day and what better way to show your support than coming out and protesting the coal plants! Everything you need to know is listed below!

Stop the Coal Plants Parade

and Power Plant Tour

Let’s take action for Earth Day… and keep moving toward a Clean Energy future in Texas!

The Stop The Coal Plant/Stop the Coal Rush Coalition urges you to mark your calendars, make your plans to attend, and gather with your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to WACO April 22nd for the…
Sunday, April 22nd - Starting at Noon -
Waco, Texas - gathering at Heritage Square
300 Austin Avenue

SEED Coalition, Sierra Club, Keep Waco Green, TPOWER, Democracy for Texas, Robertson County Our Land Our Lives, and Public Citizen invite you to join in a short parade in Waco, followed by a driving tour of the sites of proposed coal-burning power plants in the area.

The Texas Coal Rush is not over! Join us in taking action on Earth Day to stop the coal plants! March in a short parade and join us on an action-oriented power plant tour.

TCEQ will soon make an important decision about whether or not to permit TXU’s Oak Grove, the largest and dirtiest coal plant proposed in Texas.

We’ll ask public officials to take the next steps to stop the coal rush and protect our health. Everyone is welcome at this event and your presence will help make a difference in our push for clean air and clean energy!

Join us in walking (or driving) in a short parade in Waco. You can pull a wagon with children aboard if you’d like and feel free to carry a sign or banner for your organization.

If you want to ride on a float that is being planned, or want to make and bring a float, please let us know. Cars / vans can follow as part of the parade, or you can leave your car parked.

Then we’ll hop into in vans for a driving tour to the proposed coal plant sites and we hope that you’ll ride with us. If you need to, you can take your car and follow the vans, but it will definitely be more fun to ride together.

We’ll bring box lunches for the ride. Please let us know if you prefer a vegetarian meal.

Our power plant tour stops will include:

* The existing Lake Creek Power plant (gas plant)

* LS Power/Dynegy’s site in Riesel for the proposed Sandy Creek coal plant, and

* TXU’s proposed Oak Grove site in Robertson County, where the tower is built already.

* Along the way, we’ll point out the location and direction of the Sempa/PNM Twin Oaks plant near Hammond, the site of the existing TNP coal plant.

We expect to finish up at Oak Grove around 5:00 pm and return to Waco by around 6:30 pm, but the times may vary somewhat.

Register now.
Contact: Karen Hadden, 512-797-8481

I had the most incredible opportunity last night to meet some amazing people including Sheryl Crow herself at the Stop Global Warming college tour. It kicked off in Dallas on the SMU campus with outstretched arms. I think everyone is ready to help put a stop to the earth’s rising climate change. Amid the chaos, I was able to ask Sheryl Crow what she would like to say to texastoday.org .While signing a group of girl’s tops she said” All the college students are so intriguing.They not only give hope but,can succeed in making the difference we all need.” There ya have it! Our exclusive! Now, go sign up for the virtual march at www.stopglobalwarming.org .Get everyone you know involved. 1 million by Earth Day! “C’mon ,C’mon”you know you can do it!

What exactly can we do? I was standing in a line behind a guy when I made a sidewise mention about Al Gore’s position on Global Warming. The guy said he would not believe anything Al Gore said about anything. OK, now what? Gore is out there trying to convince the people who need convincing that we are on a collision course with the point of no return on the amount of destruction the planet will tolerate. Yet, the people who most need to get the message don’t trust the messenger.

I spent some time this past summer working as a researcher on the NOAA ship OREGON II. We were studying the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fisheries. The Hypoxia in the Gulf is growing rapidly. The acidity of the world’s seas is increasing. There are undeniable implications and the overwhelming majority of reputable scientists are in agreement that we must act soon or it will be too late to recover.

Is this a subject we can get behind? is there something we can do now without waiting for another election cycle? Is this an issue that can resonate with Texas Today?

Make some suggestions, please?!