Will Texas and Florida be Decisive Battleground of U.S. Carbon Wars?

Commentary by John C. Topping, Jr.
President, Climate Institute

As 2007 begins there are signs of a profound shifting in US policies toward climate change. The Bush Administration's decision to propose a possible listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act may portend a thawing of its position against carbon controls. Congressional Democrats, now in the majority, seem determined to shift energy priorities toward renewable energy and efficiency. Both California's Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and its Democratic-controlled legislature appear committed to making America's most populous state a world leader in climate protection. The biggest story may, however, be in Texas and Florida, two rapidly growing Southern states where extraordinarily diverse citizen coalitions are forming to resist a stampede of utilities to build coal power plants. Driven by concerns that they are faced with a double bind of growing demand for electricity and volatile and generally high natural gas prices, utilities have mapped plans for as many as 154 new coal fired plants in the United States.

Texas Shootout at High Noon

Nowhere is the push more insistent than in Texas where the politically well-connected utility, TXU, is seeking fast track permits for 11 conventional technology coal plants, and other utilities are seeking permits for six more coal plants and a petroleum-coke plant to be built within the next four years. Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and Houston Mayor Bill White are leading a diverse coalition of opponents that includes city, industrial, real estate and financial leaders, environmentalists and ranchers. TXU has run into a hailstorm of protest from pension funds that are shareholders, elected officials and much of the business establishment including many who have been strong supporters of George W. Bush as Governor, Presidential candidate and President. A number of prominent Dallas business leaders have established a political action committee, Texas Business for Clean Air, to fight the stampede to build the coal plants. The PAC was formed after three prominent Dallas businessmen met with TXU Wholesale CEO Mike McCall and found him insistent on moving full speed ahead on the permitting. Their concerns appear both environmental and economic as the plants might jeopardize the air quality attainment status of key Texas communities, threatening health and real estate values and incurring Clean Air Act sanctions on new construction.

Although the battle before state decision makers will be fought largely over air quality issues, many opponents, including a number of business leaders, seem focused almost as much on climate protection implications. Studies of potential climate change impacts in Texas have underscored the Lone Star State's vulnerability to water related stresses on agriculture and human settlement. These concerns no longer seem distant to a citizenry suffering from a once in 50 year-style drought.

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has raised about $500,000 to finance the opposition efforts. This might seem a drop in the bucket compared to the resources of the utilities, but the citizen and city clean air coalition is represented on a pro bono basis by the fabled law firm of Susman Godfrey. Leading the fight for the citizens' coalition is the firm's legendary Senior Partner, Stephen Susman, a veritable Babe Ruth of the American trial bar.

Battles fought out through presentation of expert witness testimony in Texas administrative proceedings in the next few weeks may prove every bit as consequential for US climate policy as deliberations in the US Congress.

Interestingly, prior to the rush of TXU and other utilities toward massive coal building, Texas was emerging as a leading player in renewable energy, recently passing California as the leading wind generator and becoming a site for large ethanol plants with ethanol pumps also opening at Texas gas stations.The groundwork for this was set during the governorship of George W. Bush when the state enacted in 1999 a strong package involving utility deregulation and a very strong renewable portfolio standard. The mastermind of this effort, who cobbled together a bipartisan coalition involving Environmental Defense, other green groups and the natural gas industry was Sam Wyly, computer pioneer who was the driving force behind Green Mountain Energy, the first large-scale green power marketer. A strong Bush backer, Wyly spoke eloquently about the potential of clean Texas generated renewable energy to preserve clean air and clear skies. The fight in Texas is looming between those like Wyly who are intent on having Texas use its natural resources to be a clean energy leader, and those such as TXU that are willing to depend for energy on imports of coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

A Ray of Sunshine in the Sunshine State

Although the push for coal by utilities in Florida is less intense than in Texas, already a strong citizens coalition has arisen to fight new coal plants, particularly because of their potential impact on climate. Together with Louisiana, Florida is likely one of the two US states most vulnerable to climate change. As the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment pointed out in a vivid map, a rise of one meter in sea level could prove devastating for South Florida (p 4 ).

For a number of years there has been widespread citizen awareness in Florida of air quality risks posed by the state's existing coal fired plants. Still, Florida has been susceptible to the same utility thrust toward coal as natural gas prices have risen. Florida Power & Light is proposing to build a 1,960 megawatt coal-fired plant near Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades and this has aroused a firestorm of protest among environmental groups such as the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Florida PIRG. A Tallahassee- based citizen action group, Big Bend Climate Action Team (BBCAT), has focused much of its effort toward opposing a large North Florida coal plant to be built in Taylor County. BBCAT, a grass roots group of retired state government officials, scientists, engineers and other concerned citizens, has been fighting a David and Goliath battle against powerful corporate interests. Yet the Big Bend Climate Action Team already has registered some remarkable successes. One of its key members, Pamela McVety, a former deputy chief of Florida's environmental agency, led the successful 2006 effort to have the Presbyterian Church USA become the first major religious denomination in any nation to ask each of its members to become carbon neutral.

The Big Bend climate activists were initially outgunned by their well-funded opposition when the Tallahassee City Council pressed through city involvement in the Taylor County Plant on grounds that the plant would be built anyway and the only way that Tallahassee could avert undue environmental damage was to be part of the project. Despite strong arguments of opponents, Tallahassee residents who had voted overwhelmingly in 1992 to prohibit city involvement in a coal plant in Leon County acquiesced in the proposal to maintain city involvement in the proposed Taylor County Plant. The Big Bend Team did, however, get the City Council to commit sizable funding to exploring clean energy alternatives before Tallahassee makes a final decision. The Big Bend Team as well as South Florida activists were heartened by news that the administration of outgoing Florida Governor Jeb Bush had prepared a white paper for its Republican gubernatorial successor, Charles Crist, recommending carbon controls.

Texas and Florida may be Red States from the standpoint of political pundits but there are many residents in both parties who seem determined that they be Green States as well. Their success may be crucial in determining whether the US becomes a serious participant in the global climate protection effort.