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Gary Borders
Pitch made for new power plants
Lt. Gov Dan Patrick joined with the world’s largest investment firm to pitch investors on building natural gas power plants in Texas at a summit held last week in Houston.
Patrick and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink shared the stage as they attempted to persuade investors to take advantage of $10 billion in incentives and bonuses provided by the state after voters approved a constitutional amendment last November, kut.org reported.
“We estimate in this room there’s $2.2 trillion,' Fink told the crowd. “We only have to put $10 billion to work, so can we get it done? Can we start raising hands?”
While Patrick remained optimistic the plan would attract investors interested in building new power plants, others aren’t so sure.
Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston, told kut. org that the way the Texas power market is structured won’t necessarily provide a steady return to power plant operators.
“If you’ve got $2 trillion worth of investors and they’re looking for a deal ... they wouldn’t have had this summit; there would already be power plants being built,' he said. “All of these guys are sharks. They're not going to miss an opportunity to make a profit.”
New law increases sentences for human smugglers
A state law that increases the minimum sentence from two years to 10 years for people convicted of smuggling immigrants or harboring them illegally went into effect last wee.
The Texas Tribune reported SB4 was one of three immigration-related bills signed into law late last year. Other measures provide state money for construction of barriers along the Texas-Mexico border and make it a state crime to illegally cross the border from Mexico.
The latter measure is being challenged in court by the U.S. Department of Justice, El Paso County and immigrant rights groups.
“This increase in policing and increased criminalization is going to further exacerbate the overcrowding of our jails,” said David Stout, an El Paso County commissioner.
Ten counties exceed tougher soot standards
Tougher rules aimed at reducing particulate matter in the air went into effect last week, reducing the amount of what is commonly called soot permitted in the air from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter annually.
It is the first change in the limits since 2012. The soot can cause lung and throat irritation, aggravate asthma and cause other ailments, the Tribune reported.
According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, 10 Texas counties have particulate matter levels that exceed the new standard – Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, Travis, El Paso, Webb, Hidalgo, Cameron, Kleberg and Bowie.
The EPA will take about two years to officially declare which regions meet the new standards and which don’t. States will then have at least three years to create a plan to come into compliance.
“This final air quality standard will save lives and make all people healthier, especially within America’s most vulnerable and overburdened communities,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a press release.