Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Alternative Energy

If you’ve ever spent time in the Lone Star State, it quickly becomes obvious — sometimes painfully so — that Texas enjoys an abundance of burning, scorching sunshine. While not everyone views these rays as a resource yet, lobbyists, policymakers and politicians (the three most dreaded groups in the state) are working on an incentive package to make Texas a leader in solar energy.

Thus far, 69 renewable energy bills have been introduce in this Texas legislative session, and 50 of them focus on boosting the state’s solar resources. Some representatives have even taken to calling this the “solar session.” According to representative Mark Strama:

“There are senators and representatives that are talking about solar that have never mentioned the word probably in their lives. We’ve actually heard the term ‘global warming,’ and two years ago that was called ‘the G word’ – you didn’t talk about it.”

Considering the state’s success with promoting wind energy, it’s easy to imagine that much of the momentum will start to spill over into becoming the preeminent force solar energy as well. Austin Energy just gave the green light to the largest solar farm in the nation, so that’s a start.

[via Earth2Tech]

Texas Legislators Hope to Initiate Solar Bonanza originally appeared on Green Daily on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Plants and Wildlife

Wow, just yesterday we discovered that the Rio Grande had been placed on the WWF’s Top 10 Rivers at Risk list, and then I find news that the US Border Patrol is going to hasten the river’s demise. After outcries to take bold action, the Border Patrol has announced plans to poison all plant life on a 1.1 mile stretch of the river in order to make it easier to find and apprehend drug smugglers, robbers, and illegal immigrants.

Here’s the rub: if it’s successful (meaning the bare patch deters smugglers and other villains) the Border Patrol may perhaps expand the tactic to another 130 mile section of the river. Crazy. It’s kinda hard to decide whether you want mission to succeed or not when its success means destroying all vegetation up and down a major river. According to reports, the poisoning could take place as soon as Wednesday the 25th. Is the government rushing this herbicidal rampage to beat the news that the Rio Grande’s now a heavily threatened river? Who knows?

To be fair, policymakers are in a tough spot as violence between drug cartels and the Mexican army is spirals out of control, and people on the US clamor for tighter security.

US Border Patrol to Eradicate Plant Life Along the Rio Grande originally appeared on Green Daily on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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