WIND VAIN

Texas has long been the dirtiest state in the union; frequently tops in carbon emissions, in ozone pollution, in chemical spills. But, in the last five years, and without much fanfare, Texas has become a clean-energy mecca of sorts, says the New Republic.

Consider:

The state has overtaken California in wind power and is on pace to build more turbines than much-hyped eco-nations like Denmark.

Investors in Texas have expressed interest in projects worth more than 24,000 megawatts in wind power -- more than is currently installed in Germany, a wind power leader.

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens recently announced plans to invest as much as $6 billion to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas.

Last fall, Governor Rick Perry announced that Texas would spend millions on transmission lines in the next decade to encourage $10 billion in private wind-power investment.

The turning point for Texas's green ventures came in 1999, when a bill restructuring and partially deregulating the Texas electricity market was signed into law:

Within the bill, green groups negotiated a small provision requiring utilities and retailers to collectively generate 2,000 megawatts of new renewable power by 2009.

It was one of the first mandates of its kind and contained a trading mechanism that let utilities buy and sell renewable credits -- a sort of cap-and-trade system in reverse.

Texas utilities easily met the original renewable goals in half the allotted time, and, in 2005, the legislature passed an even bigger mandate.

However, the Lone Star State hasn't turned into Sweden, and its carbon emissions are still growing at a furious rate. But, at the very least, the wind-power boom has made many business leaders and conservatives in Texas more sanguine about the changes necessary to wean the state off fossil fuels and help diversify its energy base.

Source: Bradford Plumber, "Wind Vain," The New Republic, November 5, 2007.

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"If capitalism had never existed, any honest humanitarian should have been struggling to invent it. But when you see men struggling to evade its existence, to misrepresent its nature, and to destroy its last remnants - you may be sure that whatever their motives, love for man is not one of them." - Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

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Do you really trust the private sector to do what is in the best interest of consumers? Or, is it, as I believe, more about lining the pockets of such notables as T. Boone Pickens.

You believe the feds could do better??

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"A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing but together can decide that nothing can be done."
Fred Allen

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
George Bernard Shaw

"Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."
John Galbraith

I think that is the bottom line. Government disastrously attempts to fix social problems or Environmental issues, or countless others...

They fail every time.

If we had a truely free market during the 20th Century. America would be cruising in Ethanol Cars and Solar, Wind, Nuclear, Hydrogen and everything else in between would be mass produced, and more readily available to the public consumer market.

The Free Market is a wonderous thing. It is capable of creating demand and supply for renewable resources. I wish the Left, who hijacked Environmentalism would see this.

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"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

People create demand. The market isn't sentient, the people behind it are.
At least nominally sentient....

Still looking for intelligent life on Earth? GOOD LUCK!!!!

The Consumer without being told what he can and can not buy, is part of a free market. Americans are told what kind of energy they can use. Little to no competition, a free market would allow for competition, and competition lowers prices, Companys would move to cheaper and renewable sources of energy since the late 80s, if the Energy Market in America was free.

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"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

combination of marketing and law.....both controlled by humans, not "the market"

Not only are we told what energy we can use, we are also told what drugs we can use, etc....there is extensive manipulation of "demand" for many reasons that are not economic....though there is manipulation for economic reasons as well....no free lunches? no free markets either....

"You believe the feds could do better??"

>>>Without a doubt. Especially if the fed didn't have its hands tied by some sort of public/private consortium bullshit similar to what is being proposed for healthcare.

The only thing the feds do well, is create confusion and bureaucratic red tape. They streamline, and expedite nothing. Never have, never will.

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If you want change stop electing "liberal: democrats and "radical" Republicans. Find and support true Conservatives; those who believe in fiscal responsibilities, individual accountability, and a smaller government, with less control of your daily life.

Deregulation can also backfire and bring the likes of Enron into this.