Image by CrackerClips Stock Media via Canva Pro
By Cyrus Reed
Late last week, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick gave the 15 standing Senate committees and respective senators 57 different charges to investigate before the next legislative session, which will begin in January of 2025. We like some, we don’t like some, and some are more political theater than real issues.
What happens next?
Now that the Lt. Governor has released his interim charges, each committee and its chair must decide when and how often to meet, whether to take public input, and when to release a final report, most likely at the end of the year or even in early 2025. Most are expected to schedule meetings in the coming months, and already one of the key committees – Business and Commerce – has announced three hearings, though details have yet to emerge on what will be covered in the hearings.
Are interim charges important?
Yes because they indicate some of the key issues that Senate leadership thinks are important, and many of the charges are likely to lead to proposed legislation in 2025. While being an interim charge doesn’t guarantee that a proposed bill on the issue will pass, it at least gives it a good fighting chance.
What are the key committees to which we pay a lot of attention?
While all 15 standing Senate committees are important, as a conservation organization most of our key issues are found in five committees:
- Finance, which covers state revenues and expenditures
- Business and Commerce, which covers the state electric grid
- Natural Resources & Economic Development, which covers issues surrounding key agencies like the Railroad Commission of Texas (the agency that regulates oil and gas) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; and
- Water, Agricultural & Rural Affairs, which addresses water supply, floods, and other issues;
- Transportation – highways, electric vehicles, and everything else transportation related.
What are some key charges we like?
We appreciate many of the charges given to the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, both those dealing with new technologies like geothermal and storage, as well as specific charges on the rising cost of insurance and the impact of bitcoin operators on the ERCOT grid. We really like the focus on the need to increase energy savings and demand response programs, which is quoted below:
Managing Texas Sized Growth: Evaluate the state's ability to keep pace with increasing electricity demand related to population growth and energy intensive technologies such as electric vehicles and data centers. Recommend ways to increase reliability via demand-side response programs. Study ERCOT's forecasting methodology and recommend ways to increase transparency. Monitor ongoing efforts at the Public Utility Commission related to energy efficiency programs and distributed energy resources, including the implementation of Senate Bill 1699, 88th Legislature.
We also appreciate the attention to the impacts of large cement manufacturers in Texas with a specific focus in the interim – Cement Production Plants: Examine the impacts of permanent cement production plants on local communities. Make recommendations to ensure they are strategically situated and uphold community standards while also fostering economic development.
Based on recent press reports, this particular charge is related to a plan to install a huge Portland cement plant in rural Grayson County north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The proposed BM DORCHESTER LLC (Black Mountain Dorchester) cement plant would create a 600-acre quarry and major air- and water-pollution source. The Lt. Governor has sent a letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality asking them not to issue any permits to authorize this plant’s construction and operations – or any other Portland cement plants – until after the Legislature has a chance to consider additional regulations. It appears that opposition from other industry, rural communities, and officials in Grayson County on a proposed Portland cement plant got the Lt. Governor’s attention more than opposition in urban areas like Houston and Dallas, which have been concerned for decades about smaller concrete batch plants, where only very modest improvements in regulations have been made in recent years.
What are some silly ones?
We recognize it's an election year, but this one in the Natural Resource Committee seemed over-the-top, asking Texas to “Overcome Federal Incompetence”:
Overcoming Federal Incompetence: Consider the impact to the Texas economy from federal interference including, but not limited to, restricting liquified natural gas exports, supply chain limitations, a net-zero carbon agenda,
and other air emission provisions. Report on what impact these federal interferences will have on the Texas economy and workforce, and make recommendations to minimize the damage to Texas.
Our organization feels that the Biden administration has actually been coming up with policies and rules to protect frontline communities from pollution, which we see as a positive, and we will be sure to let the Texas Senate know our position. In fact, we will likely argue that the Biden Administration has not done enough to protect frontline communities.
A similar item was placed on the Transportation Committee that paints the Biden plan to transition to all-electric vehicles as a negative, but at least it brings up some issues that are important to Texas and our future.
The Future of Our Economy: Evaluate President Biden’s plan to transition to all-electric vehicles, and the impact on Texans and the state economy. Assess and report on the viability of the charging infrastructure, including the need for more charging stations and upgrades to the power grid, loss of gas tax revenue for transportation and public education, barriers to widespread adoption such as consumer costs for purchasing new vehicles and installing residential charging infrastructure, and the impacts to the oil and gas economy in Texas.
What about the House of Representatives?
With current Speaker of the House Dade Phelan in a runoff this May, he has yet to release interim charges other than forming some special interim committees to look at specific issues like Biden’s LNG pause and the wildfires of West Texas. The Wildfire Committee already met and held hearings, while we are still waiting for future hearings on the administration’s pause on permitting future LNG facilities.