Charlie LOVES nukes (and CPS)

Charlie has thrown his hat in with making San Antonio nuclear and getting federal money for it... it is NOT green and will NOT bring jobs to our city, unlike solar and energy efficiency.

Call NOW and tell Charlie the people want clean, green energy, no nukes and green jobs.
call at (202) 225-3236 or at (210) 472-6195

from SA Express News
Energy issue puts heat on Gonzalez

As tension mounts over legislation designed to fight global warming and spur renewable energy, forces on both sides of the issue are targeting the swing vote of U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez.

But the San Antonio Democrat, who said he's confident a compromise can be reached on the bill, said he won't support the legislation until some changes are made to protect the utility industry — particularly CPS Energy and its investments in nuclear power.

Gonzalez, who's on the key Energy and Commerce Committee, is among a few moderate Democrats who haven't thrown their support behind the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

This has stalled the efforts of Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and the Obama administration to push the legislation through committee by Memorial Day.

The political wrangling has put Gonzalez at the center of intense lobbying efforts and made him the target of several activist groups.

Among them, MoveOn.Org held a rally in San Antonio this month and VoteVets.Org ran a series of TV ads last week urging Gonzalez to support the bill. Several local politicians, including Mayor Phil Hardberger, have penned letters asking the same thing.

But Gonzalez said the voices he's hearing loudest on the issue come from CPS Energy.

His office and the city-owned utility are in daily contact. On the utility's behalf, he's lobbying for a better treatment of nuclear energy in the bill.

“Nuclear is a greenhouse gas-free way of generating electricity and it is not treated as favorably in this bill as renewables,” Gonzalez said. “Nuclear is a means to an end. I don't want it discouraged.”

Gonzalez said he'd like to see nuclear put on par with renewable energy like solar and wind, or at least not counted against federal renewable energy requirements.

The bill's official language has yet to be released, but sources in Washington said it could require as much as 25 percent of the country's energy to come from renewable sources and energy efficiency by 2025.

The issue could be important for San Antonio. CPS Energy leads the country in the use of wind energy among municipally owned utilities, but it also owns 40 percent of the nuclear South Texas Project and is debating spending billions in a deal to build two more nuclear reactors at the Bay City site.

Gonzalez also wants some guarantees on the number of credits available for the utility sector under the cap and trade scheme likely to be created to reduce greenhouse gases. And he wants a large portion of those credits to be given to the utilities for free instead of being auctioned off, as President Barack Obama has called for.

Gonzalez's positions are in line with most of the Democratic holdouts. They tend to come from areas where coal or heavy industry holds major political clout. Gonzalez and Houston Democrat Gene Green, for instance, are meeting with party leadership in an effort to ease the bill's impact on the refining industry.

His positions haven't gained Gonzalez any kudos from Texas environmental organizations.

“I certainly understand that as a representative, he's sensitive to local interests. But I'm worried that he is putting CPS Energy above a large group of constituents and local officials who have encouraged him to be aggressive in supporting clean energy,” Luke Metzger of Environment Texas said.

Gonzalez countered that he's trying to protect San Antonio residents from increased energy bills that could result from a new climate bill.

“The question I ask is can CPS Energy still deliver affordable electricity to our constituents,” he said. ‘You will be paying penalties if you don't meet these mandates. Going green is going to require more green.”

Despite the Democratic holdouts, some in Washington believe Waxman is very close to gathering the needed votes to move the bill through committee. Tony Kreindler of the Environmental Defense Fund said Waxman could unveil a bill as early as today.

“The vote on this committee is actually much bigger than the committee itself,” he said. “It's a very diverse committee with regional commitments. If they can broker an agreement in Environment and Commerce, it sends a very strong signal to the House... and similarly to the Senate.”