Texas lawmakers look to kill solar, wind with red tape

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Liam Denning / Bloomberg Opinion

Like the (probably apocryphal) village destroyed that it might be saved, Texas’ legislature is rampaging across the state’s energy industry purportedly to preserve it. One measure in particular, which just passed the state senate, strikes a blow not just at renewable energy but also the quintessentially Texan prerogative of what you do with your own acres.

The bill in question, SB624, is ostensibly permitting reform for renewable energy projects but, on closer examination, turns out to be a red-tape dispenser. Anyone seeking to develop a wind or solar project would be required to get a permit from the state and an environmental impact statement from the Parks and Wildlife Department. Upon receiving an application, the utility regulator must then inform “affected parties, including any property owner within 25 miles” and offer to hold a hearing for them, plus notify any county judges in the same radius if requested (for projects above 15 megawatts, which is basically all of them). In addition, permitted facilities must be at least 100 feet from any property line and 200 feet from any habitable structure unless written permission has been obtained from each neighbor (those distances appear to have shifted around in drafting). For a wind project, that required setback increases to 3,000 feet, or a bit more than half a mile. And so on.

If just reading all that makes you think “Phew! Glad I’m not a renewables developer in Texas!” then you’re getting the idea.

The irony here is that the bill’s Republican sponsors have borrowed a tactic from environmentalists. Over the years, those seeking to block things like new oil and gas wells or pipelines learned that, rather than simply try to block access to sites, it was far more effective to tie up those projects in legal and regulatory purgatory. For example, the Keystone XL pipeline, although officially killed off by President Biden, had been held up for 13 years by then. Time is, of course, not friendly to project developers, whittling away at their returns and will to live as it drags on. This proposed Texas reform would do much the same thing by creating points of friction among agencies, county authorities and neighbors.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-texas-lawmakers-look-to-kill-solar-wind-with-red-tape/

[Mopar151]

1. So why are renewables poison in Texas?

They have plenty of wind and sun, and a power grid in need of smarts and diverse capacity.

[Old Crank]

2. Texass is one of, or is,

The national leader(s) in solar and wind energy in the country.

These fools are trying to kill the golden goose.

[Rebl2]

3. Sounds like

it to me. But they like their oil wells better I guess.

[sellitman]

4. Why are electric car manufacturers relocating to Texas?

If I were them I'd avoid Texas like the plague.

[RussBLib]

5. Texas power grid is already tenuous and stretched to the limit

...take away renewables and Texas will have a real energy crisis on their hands. Renewables are what saved the state from recent power shortages. But, no, they have to do whatever they can to boost the fossil fuel industry, regardless of anything else.