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Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 6, Air Quality, Notes

NOTES

  1. Solveig Turpin, University of Texas at Austin, Anthropology Department, interviewed by Robert Bryce, March 29, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes, via telephone. Turpin said numerous sites around the state have records of lignite use. As for the use of tar, she said it was widespread and occurred throughout the coastal region up until the arrival the Europeans.

  2. Railroad Commission of Texas, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, Volume 1, 9, 1993.

  3. Ibid, 26.

  4. Ibid., 30

  5. Ibid., 1.

  6. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, "Texas Gross State Product from Oil and Gas," Forecast, Fall 1993.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. University of Texas at Austin, Center for Energy Studies, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, May 1992, II.1.

  10. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 1, 2. Texas' role as an energy importer is further discussed in STEPP, Vol. 2, 225. The state's increasing population, increasing consumption and declining oil and gas production all combine to cause this change in the state's energy balance.

  11. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 2, 25.

  12. Ibid., 82.

  13. Ibid., STEPP Vol. 2, 319.

  14. U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, 1991. The study found that Texas could generate 136,000 megawatts of wind energy per year. See also The Sustainable Energy Development Council of Texas, Texas Sustainable Energy, 6.

  15. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 2, 387. Texas currently has 27 utilities with a net generating capacity of 60,687 megawatts.

  16. Robert Bryce, "Just the Nuclear Facts, Nuclear Bullets" The Austin Chronicle, July 3, 1992, 18.

  17. The World Resources Institute, The 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac, 272.

  18. WRI, The 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac.

  19. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 2, 115.

  20. Texas Ratepayers' Organization To Save Energy, Inc., Texas ROSE Petition to Adopt a Policy Statement on Conservation and Renewable Energy, Least-Cost Planning and Competitive Risk, Submitted to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, July 26, 1994, 4.

  21. Robert Bryce, "Mexico Purchases U.S. Oil and Gas as Domestic Energy Demand Soars," The Christian Science Monitor, November 30, 1993, 8.

  22. Ibid.

  23. The Dallas Morning News, 1990-91 Texas Almanac, 59.

  24. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol 1, 5.

  25. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol 1, 12.

  26. Figures from Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

  27. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, "Forces of Change: Shaping the Future of Texas," March 1994.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol 1., 10.

  30. Ibid.

  31. John Dillin, "This Summer's Drivers Will Find Cheap Gas," The Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 1994, 1.

  32. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 175.

  33. James E. Nugent, "The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: A 20 Year Reflection on the Texas Oil and Gas Industry," Commissioner, Railroad Commission of Texas, November 20, 1992.

  34. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 176. The citation reads, "In 1991, the major international oil companies realized 77 percent of their total worldwide earnings from outside the U.S. and 61 percent of their capital expenditures were made outside the U.S. compared to 37 percent in 1985."

  35. Texas Department of Water Resources, The Seymour Aquifer: Ground-Water Quality and Availability in Haskell and Know Counties, Texas, Report 226, December, 1978. The report concludes that 75 percent of the underground water pollution in the counties is due to the "former disposal of oil field brine into unlined surface pits. An estimated 20 percent has been caused by leaky injection wells and unplugged, abandoned wells."

  36. Lower Colorado River Authority, "LCRA Water Quality Assessment Identifies Priority Problems in Colorado River Watershed," Press Release, October 7, 1994, 4. The 1994 report by the LCRA recommends that the Railroad Commission find additional funding to find and plug abandoned wells.

  37. Robert Bryce, "More Precious Than Oil," Texas Monthly, February 1991, 158.

  38. Railroad Commission of Texas, "RRC Assesses $66,500 in Well Plugging and Pollution Penalties," press release, February 17, 1994. The release states that since 1984, the number of wells plugged with state funds has increased by almost 1,000 percent. In 1984, the state plugged 177 wells. By 1993, that number was 1,404. The biggest increase in plugging activity occurred between 1991 and 1992. In 1991, 455 wells were plugged. In 1992, the number of wells plugged jumped to 1,324.

  39. Christopher Flavin and Nicholas Lenssen, Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution, W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 1994, 91.

  40. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 160.

  41. Tom Welch, U.S. Energy Information Administration, interviewed by Robert Bryce, April 28, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes, via telephone.

  42. Railroad Commission of Texas, "Texas Oil And Gas Notes," September 1993. Also see Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 149, which states that Texas may have upwards of 235 Tcf of recoverable gas..

  43. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, "Texas Oil and Gas Production Tax Revenues, 1930-1993.

  44. Ibid.

  45. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 149.

  46. Railroad Commission of Texas, "Texas Oil And Gas Notes," September 1993.

  47. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 160.

  48. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 20.

  49. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 10.

  50. Julie Bonnin, "Fuel for Thought," Austin American-Statesman, February 2, 1993, F1.

  51. Robert Bryce, "America's Vehicles Get a Different Diet," Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 1993, 7.

  52. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 11.

  53. National Coal Association, "Facts About Coal, 1994," 54.

  54. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 26.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 13.

  57. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 2, 282, Table 8 and text on page 283.

  58. Texas Air Control Board Criteria Pollutants, Emission Inventory, August 1993. Texas Utilities, Houston Lighting and Power and Southwestern Public Service Company each had facilities in the top ten.

  59. Tyler Courier, May 7, 1992. The newspaper says that Martin Creek (Rusk and Panola Counties), Brandy Branch (Harrison County) and Welsh Lake (Titus County) have all been found to have elevated selenium levels. The Texas Department of Health announced in May of 1992 that fish in the lakes may be contaminated and that consumption of fish from the lakes should be restricted to less than 8 ounces of fish per adult per week. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has also found high levels of selenium in fish tissue from Martin Lake (Rusk and Panola Counties) and Welsh Reservoir (Titus County). See TPWD's "Interim Report: Selenium in fish tissues From Welsh Reservoir, Texas, 1986 - 1989. See also, Jim Morris, "What Price Power?," Houston Chronicle, December 22, 1991, 1.

  60. Larry McKinney, Director, Resource Protection Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, to Thomas Dydek, Texas Air Control Board, September 24, 1990. McKinney wrote, "Caddo Lake and other natural waters in East Texas have characteristically low alkalinity and, therefore, are unable to buffer acidic inputs such as acid rain."

  61. Railroad Commission of Texas, "Coal Surface Mining Operations, Annual Progress Reports, 1982 through 1992."

  62. Robert Short, Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Ecological Services Division, in a February 1, 1991 letter to Hayward Rigano of Titus County Citizens An Endangered Species, Inc. Short writes "We believe the conversion of native, diverse habitats into large blocks of monoculture is probably the single most damaging aspect of surface mining. The disruption of surface water hydrology, including stream, riparian, or bottomland hardwood vegetation and wetlands, is also a significant impact. Adequate mitigation or restoration of these sensitive areas in a timely or effective manner is extremely hard to accomplish, and therefore, we recommend avoidance of important habitats wherever feasible."

  63. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 254. In 1970, electric utilities sold 95,245 million kilowatt hours of electricity. In 1990, that number was 231,542 million kWh.

  64. University of Texas, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, 1.3. The 90 new plants will have nearly 18,000 megawatts of additional capacity. 47 percent of the new capacity additions are planned by TU Electric Company.

  65. Ibid.

  66. Guillermo Garcia, Public Information Officer, Public Utilities Commission of Texas, interviewed by Robert Bryce, March 29, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes, via telephone.

  67. Ibid. April 22, 1993.

  68. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 387.

  69. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 29.

  70. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 17.

  71. Garcia, PUCT, April 22, 1993.

  72. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 386.

  73. Texas General Land Office, "Natural Gas Poised to Boost State Economy," EnviroNomics newsletter, Spring 1993, 1.

  74. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 129.

  75. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 386. In 1980, Texas had 730 megawatts of cogenerated power. By 1992, the total had risen to 7,359 megawatts.

  76. Ibid.

  77. U.S. Council for Energy Awareness, InfoBank: A series of fact sheets and data on energy, electricity and nuclear power, "Nuclear Plant Construction Costs & Duration," 1,2.

  78. Ibid. Comanche Peak Unit 2 was under construction for 212 months.

  79. Robert Bryce, "The Nuke: Fish or Cut Bait," The Austin Chronicle, February 18, 1994.

  80. Ibid. Statewide consumption of electricity is about 250 billion kilowatt hours. This figure confirmed by RCT, STEPP Vol. 2, 346.

  81. Garcia, PUCT, April 5, 1994. El Paso Electric, Gulf States Utilities, Central Power & Light, Houston Lighting & Power, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Texas Utilities Electric Co. own all or part of a nuclear power facility. The utilities serve a total of 3.7 million meters (out of 6.6 million meters statewide) or about 10 million customers.

  82. Bob Avant, deputy general manager, Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, interviewed by Robert Bryce, April 28, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes.

  83. Ruth Marcus, "Court Strikes Down Nuclear Waste Disposal Rule," Austin American-Statesman, June 20, 1992, A1.

  84. Ibid.

  85. WorldWatch Institute, Nuclear Waste: The Problem That Won't Go Away, by Nicholas Lenssen, December 1991, 9.

  86. Robert Bryce, Nuclear Waste's Last Stand: Apache Land, Christian Science Monitor, September 2, 1994, 6.

  87. Avant, TLLRWDA, said a typical plant decommissioning will generate from 250,000 to 500,000 cubic feet of waste. 500,000 times $500 per foot is $250 million. Also, see WorldWatch, 14. Lenssen writes that disassembling a reactor "creates and additional 15,480 cubic meters of low level waste." At 35.3 cubic feet per cubic meter, decommissioning would create 546,444 cubic feet of radioactive waste.

  88. Bryce, "Just the Nuclear Facts."

  89. Robert Bryce, "More Nuclear Plants Close as Costs Mount," Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 1994, 7.

  90. Dale Kohler, geologist in the Uranium and Radioactive Waste Section of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, interviewed by Robert Bryce, May 11, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes, via telephone. Kohler said Total continues to do solution mining of uranium in northern Jim Hogg county.

  91. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 291.

  92. Ibid., 280.

  93. Bryce, "Just the Nuclear Facts."

  94. Ibid. Austin has about 2,200 megawatts of installed generating power.

  95. Rocky Mountain Institute, "Saving Energy Through Water Efficiency," RMI newsletter, Fall/Winter 1991, 4.

  96. Rocky Mountain Institute, "Waterwise, Wattwise: Utilities Help Farmers Grow Efficient," RMI newsletter, Summer, 1993, 4. The Umatilla Electric Cooperative Association developed a computer network to provide weather forecasts and watering recommendations to farmers. The system is used to schedule irrigation on more than 100,000 acres served by the coop.

  97. University of Texas, Center for Energy Studies, VII.1.

  98. Ibid., II.1. Twelve percent of the average U.S. residential customer's electric bill pays for air conditioning.

  99. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 1, 17.

  100. Ibid.

  101. The Sustainable Energy Development Council of Texas, Texas Sustainable Energy, 6.

  102. U.S. DOE, Pacific Northwest Laboratory report, 1991.

  103. Texas Sustainable Energy estimates that California now gets about 2 percent of its electricity from wind power.

  104. U.S. DOE, Pacific Northwest Laboratory report, 1991. California has 7,000 megawatts of wind energy potential.

  105. "Kenetech & LCRA Sign 250-MW Wind Development Contract," press release by Kenetech, January 14, 1994.

  106. Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP Vol. 2, 318.

  107. Ibid.

  108. Flavin and Lenssen, 139.

  109. Ibid.

  110. Texas Sustainable Energy.

    Railroad Commission of Texas, STEPP, Vol. 2, 319.

  111. Judith Carroll, Sustainable Energy Development Council, interviewed by Robert Bryce, May 12, 1994, Austin, TX, computer notes, via telephone.

  112. Julie Bonnin, "Fuel for Thought," Austin American-Statesman, February 2, 1993, F1.

Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 7, Texas Energy, NOTES
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