DFW Regional Concerned Citizens collaborate to be informed on air quality and water issues. Breathable air and safe drinking water is essential. Air Quality impacts transportation funding, health and quality of life.
Gas drilling in the Trinity and Barnett Shale Aquifiers presents challenges for residents calling for sensible ordinances to balance safety, quality of life, water quality and water availabilty with other resources.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Energy Market Overhaul
The Brief: Rift Opens Between Oil, Electric Interests on Market Overhaul
by John Reynolds, The Texas Tribune i
http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/09/brief/
The Big Conversation
The Public Utility Commission's proposed changes to the electric market gained a powerful detractor in recent days: the Texas Oil and Gas Association, the state's oldest and largest petroleum organization.
As reported by the Tribune's Jim Malewitz, TXOGA sent a letter to the PUC last week saying it opposed creating a capacity market "that would pay electricity providers billions of dollars to maintain excess generating capacity." The move also opens a rift between the influential petroleum group and the electric utility industry, which backs the capacity market model.
TXOGA asserted in its letter that the PUC did not have the authority to embark on a market redesign and that a capacity market would not work as intended. Instead, more efforts should be made to take advantage of "smart grid" technology, TXOGA argued.