Energy: Endnotes

1. Solveig Turpin, University of Texas at Austin, Anthropology Department, interview by author March 29, 1994, Austin.

2. Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 1 (1993), 26.

3. Gary Preuss, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (TCPA), interview by author, December 8,1997.

4. Preuss, interview.

5. Preuss, interview.

6. Preuss, interview.

7. TCPA, Fiscal Notes, October 1997, 11-12.

8. National Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data Report 1994 (1996).

9. University of Texas at Austin, Center for Energy Studies, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, vol. 7 (May 1992),1.

10. Virtus Energy Research Associates, Texas Energy: Past, Present, Future (Austin, 1996).

11. Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), 1996 Annual Report, (April 1997), 5.

12. PUC, 1998 Annual Report (December 1998), 15.

13. This is based on an analysis by authors of TNRCC's State Summary of Emissions Database, August, 1999. VOCs do not include methane.

14. Center for Global Studies and The Energy Institute, Guide to Electric Power in Texas (The Woodlands: Houston Advanced Research Center and the University of Houston, March 1997), 17.

15. Bernard L. Weinstein, Harold T. Gross, and Terry Clower, Retail Competition, Stranded Costs and the Regulatory Compact in Texas: Implications for Utilities and Consumers (Denton: University of North Texas, January 1997), 8.

16. The structure of the Texas regulatory compact is found in the Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1995 (also referred to as PURA 95).

17. Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1995, 7.

18. Patricia Tierney Alofsin, Power Struggle: Deregulating the Electric Industry (Austin: House Research Organization, Texas House of Representatives, December 5, 1996), 2.

19. Alofsin, Power Struggle, 5.

20. Weinstein et al., Retail Competition, Stranded Costs and the Regulatory Compact in Texas, 26.

21. Ross Kerber, "For Sale: Environmentally Correct Electricity," Wall Street Journal, July 23, 1997, 1.

22. Geothermal power uses heat energy in the Earth's interior to produce electricity. However, Texas does not have any geothermal resources that are used for electricity production. Hydroelectric power is produced as water moves from a higher to lower level and pushes a turbine. Hydroelectric power produces about 0.7 percent of electricity generation in the state. Biomass energy is produced from converting plant and animal matter to heat. This includes converting garbage to methane, burning materials to produce heat to generate electricity, and fermenting agricultural waste to produce ethanol. Texas produces very small amounts of electricity by these means.

23. Center for Global Studies and The Energy Institute, Guide to Electric Power in Texas, 38.

24. Mike Sloan, Texas Energy: Past, Present, Future, Briefing for Texas Legislature (Austin: Virtus Energy Research Associates, Inc., February 4, 1997).

25. West Texas Utilities (WTU) conducted a deliberative poll on August 9 and 10,1997. WTU is a wholly owned subsidiary of Central and Southwest Corporation; Central Power and Light conducted a poll on June 1 and 2, 1997, and Southwestern Electric Power Company conducted a poll on August 24 and 25,1997. Deliberative polling combines statistically valid polling with discussions among "customers" in a group setting with experts.

26. West Texas Utilities, Central Power and Light, and Southwestern Electric Power Company polls, 1997.

27. City of Austin Electric Utility, Solar Explorer brochure (1997).

28. Central and South West Companies, "Central and South West Companies File Energy Resource Plan Incorporating Customer Feedback from Deliberative Polls," Press Release, February 3, 1997.

29. Kerber, "For Sale: Environmentally Correct Electricity."

30. The SEED Poll was conducted by Opinion Research Services, April 3-11, 1997.

31. PUC, 1998 Annual Report, 15.

32. PUC, 1998 Annual Report, 15. Half came from Texas lignite and half came from coal imported from Wyoming.

33. PUC, 1996 Annual Report.

34. E. N. Smith, "Wyoming's Low-Sulfur Coal Hits a Buyers' Market," Austin American-Statesman, August 17, 1997, J2.

35. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 129.

36. PUC, 1996 Annual Report, 5.

37. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 386. In 1989 Texas had 730 megawatts of cogenerated power. By 1992 the total had risen to 7,359 megawatts.

38. Citizens for Energy Awareness, InfoBank (a series of fact sheets on energy, electricity, and nuclear power, nuclear plant construction costs, and duration).

39. Citizens for Energy Awareness, InfoBank.

40. Sustainable Energy Development Council of Texas, Texas Sustainable Energy Strategic Plan (Austin, 1995), 6.

41. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 318.

42. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 318.

43. Matthew L. Wald, "For Now an Industry Relishes Its Day in the Sun," New York Times, August 16, 1997, 23.

44. Wald, "For Now an Industry Relishes Its Day in the Sun," 23.

45. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 318.

46. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 319.

47. University of Texas at Austin, Center for Energy Studies, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, vol. 2 (Austin, 1992), 1.

48. University of Texas at Austin, Center for Energy Studies, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, vol. 2, 1.

49. University of Texas at Austin, Center for Energy Studies, Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in Texas, vol. 2, 1.

50. Laylan Copelin, "Utilities Experiment Attempts to Divert Peak-Hours Demand," Austin American-Statesman, August 11, 1997, B5.

51. Department of Energy at www.eren.doe.gov. The City of Austin has one of the oldest voluntary green-building rating programs in the country.

52. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 1, 5.

53. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 1, 12.

54. Preuss, interview.

55. TCPA, Forces of Change: Shaping the Future of Texas (March 1994).

56. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 1, 10.

57. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 1, 10.

58. RRC, Texas PetroFacts (October 1997), 5.

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

60. Christopher Flavin and Nicholas Lenssen, Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994), 91.

61. National Energy Information Center, Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Annual Report (Washington, D.C., 1996), 180.

62. National Energy Information Center, Natural Gas Annual Report, 180.

63. National Energy Information Center, Natural Gas Annual Report, 38.

64. RRC, PetroFacts (October 1997), 3.

65. National Energy Information Center, Natural Gas Annual Report, 180.

66. National Propane Gas Association, Propane: The Fuel of Choice for the 21st Century (Lisle, Ill., n.d.), section 1.

67. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 10. Also, information provided by the RRC to authors in a letter, January 6, 1997.

68. National Energy Information Center, State Energy Data Report 1994.

69. National Coal Association, Facts About Coal (1994), 54.

70. RRC, Summary of Annual Coal Production from 1976-1995 (1997). Information transmitted by fax to authors on December 10, 1997.

71. National Coal Association, Facts About Coal, 54.

72. RRC, State of Texas Energy Policy Partnership, vol. 2, 282.

73. Authors analysis of TNRCC's State Summary of Emissions Database, August 1997.

74. 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 1992 that fish in the lakes may be contaminated and that consumption of fish from the lakes should be restricted to less than eight ounces of fish per adult per week.

75. Larry McKinney, Director, Resource Protection Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), 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."

76. RRC, Coal Surfacing Mining Operations, Annual Progress Reports, 1982 through 1992.

77. Robert Short, Field Supervisor, Ecological Services Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a February 1, 1991, letter to Haywood 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."

78. Dale Kohler, geologist, Uranium and Radioactive Waste Section, TNRCC, interview by author, May 11, 1994, Austin.

79. www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/sep/tx/frame.html

80. www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/sep/tx/frame.html

81. www.puc.state.tx.us/)

82. PUC, 2000 Annual Update of Generation Electric Utility Data (PUC: Austin),10-12. (www.puc.state.tx.us/)

83. Vitrus Energy Research Associates, Austin, TX www.vera.com

84. footnote: www. puc.state.tx.us/

85.Virtus Energy Research Associates, Austin, TX www.vera.com

86. Ibid.

87. Mike Sloan, Vitrus Energy Research Associates, Austin, Tx

88.

89.Becky Klein, "Renewable Energy in Texas," (Public Utility Commission: Austin, June 2002) www.puc.state.tx/about/commissioners