Texas’ Electric Reliability Coalition of Texas — ERCOT — is firing up the warning flare that if the EPA’s new cross-state rules go into effect on January 1, 2012, parts of Texas may well go dark.
This is one of those cases where we believe it is our role to voice our concern that Texas could face a shortage of generation necessary to keep the lights on in Texas within a few years, if the EPA’s Cross-State Rule is implemented as written.
ERCOT’s May11 report to the Public Utility Commission on the impact of the proposed environmental regulations did not address the impact of SO2 restrictions on coal plants in ERCOT because these restrictions on Texas were not included as part of the EPA’s earlier rule proposal. We have not had time to fully analyze the entire 1,323-page Cross-State Rule released July 7 or to communicate with the generation owners regarding what their intentions will be. However, initial implications are that the SO2 requirements for Texas added at the last stage of the rule development will have a significant impact on coal generation, which provided 40 percent of the electricity consumed in ERCOT in 2010.
Our concern is that the timing of the new requirements – effective Jan. 1, 2012 – is unreasonable because it does not allow enough time to implement operational responses to ensure reliability. We fear that many of the coal plants in ERCOT will be forced to limit or shut down operations in order to maintain compliance with the new rule, possibly leading to inadequate operating reserve margins with insufficient time to reliably retrofit existing generation or build new, replacement generation.
The EPA set out this rule change in a way that guaranteed push back, and that is completely counter to the transparency that Obama promised. I know, that was a cynical lie, but nevertheless he promised it. The EPA has no idea just how much trouble this rule change may potentially cause. I strongly suggest that they re-think this and stand down. Never mind leaving businesses and families uncertain on their electricity in the winter at the turn of the year — an election year, no less. That’s just the beginning of the trouble the Obama gang is courting here.
Texas is not going to go dark, not for the EPA or anyone else. We just won’t. Having the EPA tell Texas to turn out the lights is among the quickest ways of creating a “Come and take it” moment I can think of. I’ll tell you what this will do, if the EPA insists on pushing this. It will create a storm of rage in a state that’s not known to be exactly friendly to the folks in Washington. It will give a certain presidential candidate a whole lot of motivation to swing away at Obama, pointing directly to the heavy-handed government that Obama and his appointees are unleashing on the states. His own state, as a matter of fact, the state that has led the way in job creation while Obama’s policies have disrupted the economy nationwide. If he wins, the EPA may well be the first agency he targets for extinction.
Like I said, the EPA would be wise to back off and stop messing with Texas.
Update: Bug or feature? Feature, obviously. Obama told us he would cause energy prices to skyrocket, and now he’s making good on the threat.
This is clearly an attack on Texas & on Rick Perry due to Obama’s get even attitude. I think he did it this way so he added a layer (or thinks he did) of insulation for himself on the blowback. He was afraid to come at us directly so using this to do it. I agree with you this will become a come & take it.
Then how do you explain a similar ruling for Obama’s liberal, home state of Illinois?
That’s not similar at all!
Are you serious? Texas’s self grid is not interstate. The EPA’s treatment of it as though it is seems ridiculous.
Treating Texas as though it’s B when it’s A is not like treating Illinois as it’s B when it’s B.
Prove it.
Weird reaction.
He explained his argument clearly. It causes trouble because the timing is ridiculously too short for the massive changes demanded, and would result in a challenge to keep the lights on at all.
How else can he prove it? Are you daring Texans to keep their power plants on in spite of EPA’s BS? I hope they do, if it comes to that. But Obama won’t be reelected, so this hopefully is never going to be proven.
I took the “prove it” to challenge that the EPA did not know the impact of their ruling, not that there would be no impact from their ruling. Frankly, it would have to be a pretty short-sighted EPA to NOT see what the impacts would be… therefore the author is being too generous to the EPA.
Skirts around the edges of that incompetence/malice dictum, but I’d say justified…
Yes, it would be shortsighted of the EPA. And the EPA demonstrates short-sighted thinking all the time, why shouldn’t we expect more of the same?
“If he wins, the EPA may well be the first agency he targets for extinction.”
Shhhhhhhhhh! Tsung Zhu said “Do not interrupt your enemy when he is committing suicide.”
“Having the EPA tell Texas to turn out the lights is among the quickest ways of creating a “Come and take it” moment…”
With the glut of thugs in this administration working to control what we can and cannot eat, buy, own, try, use, say and do, it’s rapidly building to a “Come and Take It” attitude outside of Texas, too.
It isn’t as if we didn’t already know that we needed to abolish the EPA.
I do hope that the GOP strategerists (they really have some, don’t they?) are making a list, and checking it twice, of departments, agencies, administrations and regulations to be rolled back on inauguration day +1, 2013. If an executive order create-ith, an executive order can make go away-ith.
You must also understand that the EPA changed the rules. Texas wasn’t originally included. However Obama wanted to get back at Texas for showing him up (creating more jobs in one state than “the won” can create in the entire country).
Just tie it up in court until 2013. A nuisance, to be sure, but it is just another nail in the coffin for the Left. “Energy prices will necessarily skyrocket.” Yeah, there’s a great campaign message. Oh, wait, he ran on that before, and no one seemed to notice. (sigh)
What did people think would happen with this AGW BS? It’s not like they have made a secret of what will happen. This is what they voted for. They just did not really understand the personal cost they would pay.
Part of the problem is that education teaches kids to depend on and trust politicians. Independence is not a good thing anymore.
The rest of it is that the MSM and pop culture work very hard to act as though it’s just obvious Obama would make the world much better. They do not ask the questions they should have. I can’t imagine Katie Couric digging into Obama as she did to Palin, and for some reason, many just shrug off the bias.
The next time the Rs have all three branches they HAVE to gut places like EPA and the Voting Rights Division of DOJ. Just eliminate them.
I have a recurring fantasy that Texas will be the first state to secede and become a truly independent Republic.
That was actually one of the contributing factors I had in mind when I decided to move here, though a minor one; jobs and cost of living were much higher on the list, as was individual liberty and CCW.
Texas secede? How? Texas government relies on federal funding for many, many of its programs, from Medicaid to highway money. All the feds have to do is threaten to withhold that money and Texas government will capitulate.
One – Texas is a net CONTRIBUTOR to the federal gov’t.. that means we send more money up there than we get back.
Two – What on earth makes you think we’d continue Medicaid if we seceded? Or any of the other Federally-run programs???
1) Texas is a net contributor to the federal gov’t.
2) Why would we continue a completely jacked up program like Medicaid after we secede?
Yikes. This is scary.
It’s particularly frightening to me that there is no check or balance that would help prevent this. The Executive Branch has the power. And Obama knows that whatever he does, he’s going to lose Texas in 2012, big time. Whether he tries to cozy up to you or destroy you, the number of electoral votes he will get from your state will be exactly the same: Zero.
So if he can gain anything by demonizing Texas or preventing you from having power in the winter, he will and there will be no reprecussions.
This is really something out of Atlas Shrugged. No joke, alas.
D
Now you see why Sarah Palin resigned her office. This administration is simply at war with conservative states by any and all means necessary. They used the ATF to manufacture a wave of gun violence in border state Arizona with their Fast and Furious program. They are using the EPA to attempt to destroy the Texas economy by squeezing off their power grid, thus preventing industry and job creation in a conservative state, and if Sarah Palin was still governor of Alaska, they would be using Federal regulation to try and shut down and destroy the Alaska economy, because it would not be acceptable to the Obama administration for Alaska to be thriving and solvent under Governor and potential Presidential candidate Palin. By resigning, Palin took the crosshairs off her home state, and Alaska has largely been left alone by the Obama administration, something she has not been given proper credit for. You’ll notice that Palin is considering moving to Arizona, a state with the resources and capabilities to stand up to the Federal attack on Conservative America.
The real question leading up to the 2012 election is how close the nation will come to outright civil war.
Exactly. Actually, aside from the drumbeat of nuisance lawsuits aimed at crippling the Palins’ finances, the Feds had already started their attack: declaring the polar bear to be ‘endangered’, which would put huge parts of Alaska out of reach of any drilling for oil.
I told my husband, who works very closely with both the maritime and offshore-petrol industries here in Houston, about this. His response: “Time for Texas to secede.”
It looks like we moved to Texas just in time!
The Civil War effectively made secession illegal. However, the treaty between the Republic of Texas and the United States did make provision for Texas to divide itself into as many as five states if we so desired. That is never going to happen, but if we even threatened to do so, Washington D.C. would quake in their boots, because that would mean that our two senators would be increased to ten.
I would secede from the union and then burn every piece of nasty crap that would fuel all the thermal electric plants in the state, just like the third world does. What difference does it make when it comes to “Global Warming TM”? The only difference is that you cut out the tax-man/middleman, which is really all about graft rather than the environment anyway. Face it folks, there really is no “man made” global warming of any significance, the meteorology of our planet has always been in flux and always will be.
i would say that mr obama should be very careful because there are alot of people outside of texas that support what that state is doing. if the epa does not stand down, there is going to be a tremendous nationwide pushback . i vote for anyone that will send it to the ash heap of history. it’s filled with a bunch of enviro marxists that have no right dictating any states actions. perry / rubio 2012.
We will never know or scarcely find how comments like this do anything but make ourselves happy.
However, I suspect that the trend of conservatives commenting is creating a community that CAN offset those I call “Midtown Diseased”, i.e. Midtown NYC.
They live in an Island located OFF the coast of the USA, that is actually true geographically (if not emotionally, but they cannot think straight).
Also, geographically is not only the RISE of TX but the repository of those who are BECOMING Texans… John Wayne will have his revenge from Los Angeles.
Keep the faith, as Hong Kong learned it will take over China, so will a Texas attitude prevail.
THINK Less, EMOTE More, that IS Progressive.
Greg
I think the proper response is for the Texas congress to pass a bill, and Gov Perry sign it, which simply declares that the State of Texas will not obey that particular rule from the EPA. Really, what is the EPA or Washington going to do? They’ll back down. I think it’s high time for states to become more aggressive about publicly standing up to over-reaching Federal agencies. This would be a great test case, and it would be a good political move for Gov Perry.
No need for violence or secession. You fight off a bureaucrat by showing him that he doesn’t have as much power or support as he thinks.
Competition will fill the void quickly. Calpine has been running gas turbines in Texas for years. We have plenty natural gas.
Seems wiser to engage the parasites / control-freaks in confrontation, rather than creeping accommodation. Without cooperative productive people, the freaks have nothing but their own incompetence. And that incompetence is never in short supply.
What’s most strange about the inclusion of Texas in this ruling is that our air quality has been improving for the past 10 years or so using our own plan. I agree with the “Come and Take It” moment or it’s more modern version, “Kiss My Ass”.
Yes, Rich, TX has plenty of natural gas and this administration is attacking even some of that as well in West TX. Anyway, the ability to get the equipment for small gas fired CT facilities is limited since the demand has already overtaxed the production facilities.
It is time someone used the 10th Amendment to just say NO to this misuse of Executive Orders and regulations. The executive branch can issue them faster than congress can react, assuming they want to.
Here in MD we have an Obama EO on “saving” the Chesapeake Bay that may require the elimination of new and even present septic systems or a $15,000 modification to each in rural areas. The a very rough estimate of the cost, based on two studies, to comply with the watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) in my county is $1 BILLION; our county budget this year was $171 MILLION. Additionally we do not yet have the criteria from the US EPA needed by MD and adjoining states to submit our plan by November 1, 2011. Our progressive governor is moving hand in hand with Obama to implement this plan. Obama’s Rural Commission EO and PlanMD are similar to the UN’s Agenda 21 policy statement. This takes away local control of zoning and property rights, the foundation of our freedom.
Citizens are standing up against PlanMD but unlike TX, we have no state government support. Our governor can implement this by EO regardless of the legislature’ position, which is 2 to 1 Democratic anyway.
Officials forget that Shay’s Rebellion of 1786 was over the taking of private property by government working with moneyed interests which became the final spark to drop the Articles of Confederation for a new and our present Constitution. We need Gov. Perry to organize a civil and peaceful revolution against this progressive authoritarian and corrupt regime now in control of the federal government. The people are sovereign, not government.
This reminds me of the Administration’s refusal to declare a disaster area during or after the wildfires in Texas this year.
The article presents this ruling as if it is a mistake, but it’s not a mistake. It’s intentional. They added Texas at the last minute, and interestingly, they DROPPED Florida, Louisiana, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia from the requirements at the same time.
It’s not about air quality. This is purely a political move and you have to ask yourself why? Why would Obama ‘spit into the wind’ like this? My theory is that it is part of an ongoing war, er, ‘kinetic economic action’ against Texas for the purposes of discrediting what Texas is doing and has done.
Is it too much to hope that the new & improved Republic of Texas might stretch all the way to Edmonton? It makes sense: oil in the north, oil in the south, grain in the middle.
All that’s left is to wonder what the Coastals could offer in exchange for our food and fuel.
One wonders when somebody is just going to say no. No to the EPA, no to Obama, no to tyranny. It’s past time, and the support for that person would be overwhelming.
Or in the words of Anthony McAuliffe – “nuts”
I just noticed that’s just a single word.
Obama can’t have all those nasty repubs in TX creating more jobs than the entire rest of the country put together. Have to do something to stop them, so lets have the EPA create a BS rule out of thin air to screw them. And the rule is complete BS, since TX has been on a seperate grid for decades, and the purpose for the rule, stopping interstate acid raid, is BS because the gulf stream blows any emmissions from TX out to the gulf, where they cannot possibly cause acid rain. The cronyism and politicization of every executive dept in this administration is absolutely disgusting.
I used to be dismayed by all the secession talk in TX, since it sounded a little extreme and childish, but after this BS, I begin to sympathize with them. If this keeps going, we may end up with more states than just TX seceeding.
This adminstration has done more to destroy this country than the last 3 administrations combined, and since one of them was Bush 2 that is saying a lot.
“25. Squid
Is it too much to hope that the new & improved Republic of Texas might stretch all the way to Edmonton? It makes sense: oil in the north, oil in the south, grain in the middle.”
Well yeah! From Alberta, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota on the north to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas on the south, there’s a hugh swath of country down the spine of the Rocky Mountains and across the plains that’s still prosperous and productive. We’ve got a lot more in common with Alberta and Saskatchewan than we do with New York or California. It’ll be a sad day, but I can’t see any point in going down with the sorry blue states and provinces on the coasts.