Clean Skies/Clean Energy - Toward Energy Efficient/ Renewable Energy Economy in Texas..

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Clean Skies/Clean Energy
Toward Energy Efficient/ Renewable Energy Economy in Texas

WHEREAS, Texas skies should be clean and pristine, but the air in the Dallas/Forth Worth, El Paso, Houston and Beaumont/Port Arthur areas fails to meet health based standards, and air quality in Austin, San Antonio and Tyler-Longview is close to violating health based standards, and plans for these regions remain inadequate, and

WHEREAS, Five additional coal plants are under construction and three more are proposed for Texas despite opposition and studies showing strong links between air pollution and asthma, respiratory illness, strokes, and deaths from lung cancer and heart disease, and 1160 Texans die prematurely every year from power plant particle pollution, and

WHEREAS, Coal-burning power plants are the state's largest industrial sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and toxic mercury emissions, which contaminate fish and damage the developing brains of babies and children, and coal-burning power plants also emit sulfur pollution, that causes acid rain and increased deaths from lung cancer and heart disease; and Texas coal plants rank first in the nation for carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming, and

WHEREAS, Seven additional commercial nuclear reactors are being proposed for Texas and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is fast-tracking licenses through a new combined licensing process, although Texas has as much wind energy potential as all 104 nuclear reactors in the United States, and

WHEREAS, Nuclear reactors are not an answer to global warming, and reactors in South Texas came in six times over budget and came online eight years late, and unsolved economic, security, safety, weapons proliferation, water use and radioactive waste problems make nuclear power unviable, putting the health of Texans at risk, and uranium mining for nuclear fuel has contaminated drinking water in some parts of South Texas, and

WHEREAS, Texas can and should meet future energy needs and lead the nation by developing wind and solar power technologies, greenbuilding standards and improved building codes, capturing waste energy through combined heat and power, and by increasing energy efficiency, which benefits consumers, businesses and industries while reducing power demand, therefore be it

RESOLVED, THAT a moratorium on coal and nuclear plants should be immediately enacted in order to protect our economy and our climate, and to protect the health of all Texans, especially our children, and be it further

RESOLVED, Texas should lead the nation into a clean, sustainable energy future through pursuing energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Original "Clean Skies/ Clean Energy" authored by SEED (Sustainable Energy & Economic Development) Coalition & Public Citizen’s Texas Office.