Now in our 11th year on KPFT!
AUDIO:
POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; REGISTER TO VOTE; March 5 Primary Elections; “What’s on my Ballot?”; See how TxDOT has adjusted plans for proposed I-10 elevation; HPD adjusts body-worn camera policies with goal of recovering more footage; Texas’ standoff with the feds in Eagle Pass is igniting calls for secession and fears of violence; What’s happened since California cut home solar payments? Demand has plunged 80%; The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried.; More.
Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories. My co-host, assistant producer and show editor is Andrew Ferguson.
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Wednesdays at 11AM (CT) or Thursdays at 6PM on KPFT 90.1 FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Media. You can also hear the show:
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- An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
- You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
Except for timely election info, the extensive list of voting resources will now be at the end.
- March 5, 2024 Primary Elections: HarrisVotes.com
- Early Vote Centers will be open from Tuesday, February 20, through Friday, March 1. (7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 12 noon – 7 p.m. on Sunday).
- Vote Centers will accept voters from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5.
- Sample ballots are now available for the primaries. Visit the “What’s on my Ballot?” page at HarrisVotes(dot)com and enter your name or address to see all the contests and candidates you are eligible to vote on! (You can bring handwritten notes or printed sample ballots to the voting booth; just be sure to take it with you when you leave.)
- The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is February 23. Click here for the application. Please fill it out, print it, and mail it to our office before the deadline.
- We will have a joint primary this year | OffTheKuff.COM | Posted on January 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner
- See how TxDOT has adjusted plans for proposed I-10 elevation; By Shawn Arrajj | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:33 PM Jan 23, 2024 CST / Updated 4:33 PM Jan 23, 2024 CST
- The Texas Department of Transportation has tweaked its plans for an I-10 elevation project that officials said will address flooding issues that have left the highway impassable near the Heights 10 times since 1992.
- The overview — TxDOT initially brought the proposed project to residents and stakeholders in 2022 to gather feedback and has since been working to address concerns. Updates were presented at a Jan. 17 open house and in a virtual public meeting posted Jan. 16.
- Officials are proposing to raise I-10 main lanes and high occupancy vehicle lanes between Heights Boulevard and I-45 near Downtown Houston, said Jeff Casbeer, a member of the project team with LJA Engineering.
- The details — The project tackles a stretch of I-10 roughly 1.8 miles in length. It does not include adding vehicle lanes.
- TxDOT officials are proposing to raise I-10 main lanes and HOV lanes above the White Oak Bayou flood plain. HOV lanes are already elevated in the project area, but main lanes are largely at ground level.
- HOV lanes would also be widened from 12 feet wide to 14 feet wide, and a shared-use path would be built under eastbound I-10 main lanes that connects to trails along White Oak Bayou and on the south side of I-10.
- The context — Federal requirements call for interstates to remain passable during 50-year storm events, and TxDOT’s own standards require them to remain passable during 100-year storms, standards Casbeer said the targeted stretch of I-10 does not meet.
- The project would raise I-10 main lanes above the 100-year flood elevation in the targeted area, which most recently was flooded during Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 as well as during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.
- The I-10 main lanes in the targeted area were last reconstructed between 1995 and 2000 with roads that have a 30-year lifespan. Beyond flooding, Casbeer said the segment of I-10 would need to be replaced within the next two to seven years.
- The background — Negative feedback following TxDOT’s 2022 public meeting centered around noise, the project’s potential to worsen flooding elsewhere and the project’s effects on nearby natural resources, such as green space and park-like land near White Oak Bayou.
- The latest — Since that meeting, TxDOT has adjusted its plans in the following ways: Reducing the proposed height of I-10 main lanes over Studemont Street by around 10 feet so they would be at or below the current height of HOV lanes; Reducing the proposed height of HOV lanes over Taylor Street and Houston Avenue so that it would be around 10 feet higher than the current structure; Taking a 26-acre detention pond that was once proposed to go in a forested area north of I-10 between Taylor Street and Houston Avenue and relocating it to be beneath the elevated main lanes; Adding vegetation and tree plantings along White Oak Bayou; Adding a shared-use path connection on the south side of I-10 to allow access to Sabine and Maude streets; Increasing the height of a concrete barrier along the outside of elevated main lanes and HOV bridges from 3 feet to 6 feet in an effort to reduce noise levels; Moving the I-10 eastbound main lanes to provide space for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County to place columns and foundations for its planned Inner Katy Corridor, a separate project. …
- As part of the federal process, TxDOT has completed an environmental analysis that involved looking at how the project would affect biological resources, water resources, hazardous material, historical and arch resources and noise, among other elements. No significant impacts are expected in any of those areas, based on studies done through the lens of the National Environmental Policy Act, Casbeer said.
- A noise analysis found the project would not noticeably change noise levels in 88% of the project area. For areas that will see greater noise, the analysis found barriers would not achieve the sound reduction in federal guidelines to justify the use of noise barriers, so noise barriers are not being proposed in those areas. TxDOT is considering the use of tined pavement to reduce noise.
- What else — The construction of the detention pond will result in 18 acres of impervious pavement being removed and replaced with permeable materials, Casbeer said. TxDOT will need to acquire four parcels of right of way totaling 1.2 acres, including three parcels from the Harris County Flood Control District and one parcel from the city of Houston. No businesses or residences will be displaced by the project.
- What’s next — The project has been approved in Texas Transportation Commission’s 10-year plan. A comment period remains open through Feb. 1, after which officials will review comments and make more design changes.
- Next steps include an environmental decision, detailed design and right of way acquisition. Construction could begin in 2025 and take about four years.
- ANDREW: I followed the article’s link about tined pavement and saw absolutely no mention of what tined pavement is or how it helps reduce traffic noise. So, as usual, I did my own research.
- ANDREW: PavementInteractive.org says that “Tining refers to pulling a metal rake across the surface [of newly-poured concrete] to create grooves in the pavement with a depth of between 3-5 [millimeters]… In general, narrow and deep grooves minimize noise better than wide, shallow grooves.” There’s a lot more information on that website, which I’ve linked to on today’s blog post at thinkwingradio.com.
- ANDREW: I’m glad to see that TxDOT has made changes to incorporate public feedback into the plan. I have no idea whether the changes will be sufficient to address that feedback, but I do like what I’ve read here. I like knowing that no new lanes will be added, because evidence shows that that just makes congestion worse. I think moving the detention pond below the raised road is a smarter choice, since the environment there is likely to be disturbed by construction anyway and the replacement of pavement with permeable materials will mean water seeps into the ground more and reduces flooding even further. And I like that pedestrian access is being considered so that this new construction doesn’t carve up the city so much.
- ANDREW: But these improvements don’t mean the project is perfect — some community members may not have been asked, or some other issues may have slipped through the cracks. As with any big project, it will be necessary to pay attention to future discussion, community objections, and government response to ensure that this project serves the community it’s built in as much as it does the drivers who use it.
- MIKE: I don’t disagree with everything Andrew is saying here, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate.
- MIKE: I favor building roads when they benefit a community without harming a neighborhood. You can’t move freight on a bicycle, and most people don’t work a bike ride from home.
- MIKE: Further, if the roads built aren’t toll roads, they’re ultimately cheaper to build and don’t hurt poor people unfairly. Also, with good roads, people can profitably find jobs further from home and get there in a reasonable commute time, without having to calculate whether the tolls make that uneconomical.
- MIKE: I’m still not entirely persuaded by studies that say that building roads just creates more traffic. Numerically, that may be true, but it might also mean that more roads create more opportunities for more people within a car drive, thus inviting more traffic. In most cases, roads also provide better access for new businesses and new housing development.
- MIKE: Like most things, smart development beats development for its own sake. I like that this I-10 work looks like it’s being done smarter, with much less harm to neighborhoods and more consideration given to affected stakeholders.
- HPD adjusts body-worn camera policies with goal of recovering more footage; By Shawn Arrajj | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:48 PM Jan 25, 2024 CST / Updated 4:48 PM Jan 25, 2024 CST
- The Houston Police Department is rolling out a policy change related to body-worn cameras that is meant to help department leaders recover footage after critical incidents.
- The overview — Body-worn cameras are used by the HPD to increase transparency and assist in situations where police officers interact with the public, HPD Chief Troy Finner said at a Jan. 25 news conference where the changes were announced.
- The department will now require officers to activate a feature on the cameras called “record-after-the-fact.” The new feature, which Finner said was implemented after “months of discussion with our union and officers all across the Houston Police Department,” allows the department to retrieve videos from body-worn cameras in situations where an officer is not able to or fails to activate his or her camera.
- The backstory — HPD officers started wearing body-worn cameras in 2015 and have since captured around 2.7 million videos documenting interactions with the public, Finner said.
- In March 2021, as part of police reform efforts that were implemented in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, HPD introduced new rules that require the release of body-worn camera footage within 30 days of a “critical incident,” including officer-involved shootings. Since then, 83 videos of critical incidents have been released, Finner said. …
- [HPD Chief Troy Finner said at the Jan. 25 conference that,] “Most officers have done an extremely good job of capturing incidents. However, it’s important we safeguard officers so they can concentrate on making the scene safe, and protecting the public and themselves. … We expect all officers to activate cameras before taking law enforcement actions, but there are times … it’s not possible.”
- The details — The record-after-the-fact feature has been available for use in the past, but past city administrations have opted against using it, Finner said.
- Under state law, police departments cannot require officers to be capturing footage 24/7 due to privacy laws. Finner said the department is still working on draft language for the new policy that will go into specifics of when footage can be retrieved while taking officer privacy into account, but said the record-after-the-fact has been in use since Dec. 21.
- As the policy continues to be drafted, Finner said he is currently the only member of the HPD who can make the call on when a video needs to be retrieved. In terms of how far back in the past HPD can go to retrieve a video, Finner said he couldn’t give a number of hours, but said they are working to determine those details.
- “It’s not perfect,” Finner said. “There will still probably be incidents where we don’t capture [footage], but we certainly, by introducing record-after-the-fact, are going to increase the likelihood we capture what we need.”
- What they’re saying — “It’s not just the officers,” Finner said. “We want people to see [footage] with their own eyes—family members, the general public and even us. We can use it as an opportunity to train and get better.”
- “We believe the sooner we get out video, the less the public has to fear,” said Douglas Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. “We want to show our people are doing it right. If not, [the public is] going to paint their own narrative. We want the truth out there.”
- ANDREW: I have to point out that Mr. Griffith’s comments assume that it’s possible for police to “do it right”, that there aren’t fundamental flaws with how force is used for social control in the United States. I believe that there are such flaws, and so long as those flaws continue, policy changes can at most reduce the harm that police do, directly or indirectly, to all of us, law-abiding or not.
- ANDREW: With that said, this policy change is good news. Any step to increase accountability and scrutiny of police conduct is welcome. I would appreciate seeing it followed up by more new policies requiring Houston police to give a verbal warning before using deadly force, and a complete ban on shooting at moving vehicles. These are the final two policies of the 8 Can’t Wait platform that Houston still has not enacted, as of July 2020. If these policies are adopted, Houston should be in a position to see far fewer deaths at the hands of police, whether caught on body cameras or not.
- MIKE: I had no idea that this “record-after-the-fact” capability was built-in and ready to use. I can totally understand the privacy issue. It’s not unlike the voice recorders in airplane cockpits. In the event of some crisis, that recorder is preserved for review. After a normal flight, the pilot has the option of erasing it for exactly the same privacy reasons.
- MIKE: Expectations around policing have changed a lot over my lifetime. Who can watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” without cringing when Bert the cop shoots at unarmed George Baily as he runs away down a crowded street? That seemed perfectly fine — or at least, not unusual — to audiences of the time. And remember, that’s a Frank Capra movie, and Capra wasn’t exactly a sympathizer with keeping the working class down.
- MIKE: On the other hand, phone cameras have done a lot to show us all the darker sides of policing. And we can thank that miniaturized technology for making bodycams possible in the first place, both technically and socially.
- MIKE: I was never in trouble with the law. I’ll admit that for most of my life, I’ve given cops the benefit of the doubt. Now I’m much more cynical about cops … and much else. I’m glad that most police departments have bodycams, and I’m very happy to find out that at least HPD bodycams have this “record-after-the-fact” feature and that it will be turned on. I think it will be good for cops and society at large.
- Texas’ standoff with the feds in Eagle Pass is igniting calls for secession and fears of violence; The calls for Texas to defend itself and defy the federal government have set fire to a long-simmering fight over states’ rights, emboldening right-wing figures. by Robert Downen and Uriel J. García | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Jan. 30, 2024 @ 11 hours ago
- Daniel Miller felt encouraged last week, as fears of a new civil war trended online and a coalition of powerful Republicans coalesced behind Gov. Greg Abbott’s standoff with the Biden administration.
- As the longtime leader of Texas’ unlikely secessionist movement, Miller has for decades argued that the state is in a stranglehold by the federal government that, eventually, would prompt enough popular support for a vote to leave the union. The past week only reinforced that belief. …
- At issue is the 47-acre Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where Texas has for months been laying concertina wire along the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing. In a 5-4 decision early last week, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, allowing U.S. Border Patrol agents to cut the wire to apprehend people who had crossed the river.
- The narrowly written decision — which didn’t speak to whether the state had to stop laying new concertina wire — has emboldened Abbott, who vowed to continue his fight against the high court and federal government, citing Texas’ right to defend itself from what he claims is an “invasion” of migrants.
- By week’s end — and as the Texas National Guard and state troopers continued to roll out wire and stifle federal agents’ access to much of the park — Abbott’s defiant calls were backed by 25 Republican governors, former President Donald Trump, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and nearly all of Texas’ congressional delegation.
- The calls for Texas to defend itself and defy the federal government have set fire to a long simmering fight over states’ rights, emboldening right-wing figures small and large, from secessionists like Miller to far-right militias and a convoy of protesters from across the country that are currently en route to the border. This week, the Texas Military Department — which oversees the Texas state and national guard — also began flying the “Come and Take It” flag from the Battle of Gonzales outside its Austin headquarters. …
- The standoff comes amid a recent and growing acceptance of political violence: October polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly 1 in 4 Americans agree that “patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” up from 15 percent in 2021, when the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection prompted PRRI to begin asking the question.
- Roughly one-third of Republicans and white evangelical Protestants agreed with that sentiment, compared to 13% of independents and 7% of Democrats.
- At the core of the Eagle Pass dispute is a term with a recent, violent history: “”
- To justify Texas’ legal position, Abbott and others have claimed that the state faces an “invasion” of migrants that has been aided and abetted by the Biden administration. Thus, they argue, Texas has the right to supersede the federal government’s Constitutionally outlined immigration powers in order to defend itself.
- The once-fringe theory has long been derided by legal experts and constitutional scholars who say it would effectively destroy the federal system and allow states to wantonly use “invasion” declarations to ignore federal law. And federal judges have similarly shot down the idea, with one recently calling Texas’ argument “breathtaking.”
- Adriel Orozco, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit advocacy organization, said that Abbott is not the first politician to describe the number of migrants arriving at the border as an invasion. He added that Abbott is blurring the line between political rhetoric and factual legal basis. …
- Immigration rights groups have similarly warned that framing immigrants as part of an invasion will inevitably lead to border vigilantism and violence, and that such rhetoric reinforces core tenets of “great replacement theory” — a foundational ideology of white supremacists that falsely claims there is an intentional, sometimes Jewish-driven, effort to replace white people through immigration, the LGBTQ+ community, interracial marriage and diversity initiatives.
- The San Marcos man who pleaded guilty in April to setting fire to an Austin synagogue railed about Jews and “invaders” in his journals; and the North Texas gunman who murdered 22 people at an El Paso WalMart in 2019 was driven by his belief in “great replacement theory.”
- After the El Paso shooting, Abbott vowed to stop using “invasion” rhetoric, but resumed doing so to criticize the Biden administration and as he faced well-funded, anti-immigration primary challengers in 2022.
- By then, immigration hawks had begun to coalesce around the idea of declaring an “invasion” that would allow Texas to further ramp up its immigration enforcement. In 2021, former officials from the Department of Homeland Security under Trump argued that Abbott should declare Texas was under invasion and “exercise every option available” at the border — and let the Supreme Court decide what’s legal. …
- But perhaps no one has been more important to the spread of the “invasion” legal theory than officials in Kinney County, a 3,000-person county along the border. In 2021, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith — who Miller said has served as a policy adviser for his secessionist group — penned a letter arguing that Texas was being “invaded by thousands each day” and should invoke “invasion” clauses of the U.S. Constitution to justify defending itself. …
- By late 2021, militia members had begun patrolling in Kinney County, citing an “invasion” that they believed was part of a conspiracy to turn Texas blue. And that December, Lucas Denney, a North Texas militia leader and Proud Boys collaborator who was later sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 riots, was arrested at a property owned by the family of Smith, the Kinney County attorney.
- In November 2022, after months of prodding from critics to his right, Abbott finally invoked the “invasion” clause, saying in a letter to Biden that Texas had no choice but to protect itself. Texas’ legal arguments have been routinely slapped down by courts and federal judges who note that states have no right to declare “invasions.”
- That hasn’t deterred major figures on the right, many of whom have called for Abbott to simply ignore the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court if it doesn’t rule in Texas’ favor — to tell the court to “go to hell,” as U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, suggested. …
- Others have noted that, in his response to the ruling, Abbott argued that the “federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the states” — language that some have argued echoes Texas’ 1861 declaration of secession over slavery. Abbott, who was in India for most of last week, has not responded to those accusations and did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
- Since then, chatter about a looming conflict has continued to spread.
- “What is this going to turn into, a civil war?” Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Gov Dan Patrick over the weekend. “You’ve got Texas rights vs. federal rights, both sides with guns.”
- Patrick responded: “We believe, constitutionally, we are right. We have a right to defend our citizens. We have a right to defend this country.”
- After the Supreme Court decision last week, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, said that the “feds are staging a civil war and Texas should stand their ground” — a post that was shared and celebrated widely in far-right online communities, including those that were integral to the planning of “stop the steal” protests in the lead up to the Jan. 6 riot.
- And earlier this week, Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, announced that he would rally in Eagle Pass with a so-called “Take Back Our Border” convoy that is traveling to the border in California, Texas and Arizona this week. The Texas leg of the caravan is also scheduled to meet at a Dripping Springs distillery owned by Phil Waldron, a retired army colonel who played a key role in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
- The organizers of the convoy have said they plan to peacefully protest, though social media chats set up for the group have been replete with references to “1776” and discussions about arriving armed and prepared for potential violence. …
- They aren’t the only ones preparing for potential violence: A Tuesday report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism found that transnational far-right groups have also used the standoff to rail against immigrants and proliferate baseless conspiracy theories about the “intentional displacement of whites.”
- In Texas, the report found, overt extremists and neo-Nazis such as the Aryan Freedom Network are similarly capitalizing on the controversy, with one group calling for “white men” to “join the resistance at the border.”
- MIKE: Kinney County may represent a lot of Texas in more than just politics. It’s rural; with about 3100 people in the 2020 census, it’s population density is about 2 per square mile. GDP is about $140 million, but has been declining in real terms over the last few years. The people of Kinney County may feel like they’re being overwhelmed by immigrants, but their foreign-born population as a percentage is less than the US overall; much less than Texas; and much, much less than some other Texas counties. Yet about 2/3 of the population is Hispanic. Median home price is about $98,000. Median income is about $59,000. The largest employers are Health Care & Social Assistance (254 people), Public Administration (241 people), and Educational Services (145 people).
- MIKE: In short, Kinney County is sparsely populated. The land is probably semi-arid. The jobs seem to be service-based and the job categories with the most employment seeming to be public sector. Oh, and the population declined about 10% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses.
- MIKE: I would classify this as a poor county. It sounds to me like a classic prescription for radicalization, whether it be to the left or the right, and this is Texas.
- MIKE: Maybe Texas Republicans should spend less on razor wire, and on keeping the National Guard from their homes, families and jobs, and more on economic development for Kinney County. Being semi-arid and sunny, it might be a great place for solar energy jobs. That might create a bigger economic pie for everyone there.
- ANDREW: Undoubtedly, they should do that. They won’t. Secessionist rhetoric; anti-Black, antisemitic, and anti-LGBT prejudice; and violent right-wing vigilantism are exactly what Republicans want, because they know they can exploit those things for electoral support. They don’t care about the danger they’re putting innocent people — or even their own supporters! — in, because they see anyone who isn’t like them in identity and blood as expendable.
- ANDREW: I still believe Abbott has no intention of actually going to war against the federal government, because I think he knows he won’t win. But if he and his party continue to feed the far-right, I wonder if it won’t be his choice much longer.
- MIKE: That’s what I worry about more each day.
- MIKE: As Mr. Spock once said, “Curious how often you Humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.” I guess Mr. Spock never met Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans.
- REFERENCES: Kinney County, Texas — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- REFERENCES: Economy of Kinney County — DATAUSA.IO
- REFERENCES: Gross Domestic Product: All Industries in Kinney County, TX — FRED.STLOUISFED.ORG
- What’s happened since California cut home solar payments? Demand has plunged 80%; by Julie Cart | CALMATTERS.ORG | January 26, 2024 (Tagged: Climate Change Energy Solar)
- As rooftop solar projects have plummeted, about 17,000 workers could lose their jobs. Will this derail the state’s climate and clean energy goals? …
- [C]onsumers were reacting to a profound policy shift in California: The state Public Utilities Commission in late 2022 slashed by about 75% the rate that utilities pay homeowners with new solar panels when they sell surplus power to the grid. The rate structure went into effect for solar applicants beginning last April.
- The state’s decision has caused consumer demand for residential solar to plummet since the new rate took effect. Solar companies say they’ve been shoved to the edge of a cliff, forcing them to lay off workers or even shut down.
- Experts worry that the steep decline could stall the state’s battle against climate change. Solar power is critical to meeting California’s ambitious requirement to switch to 90% carbon-free electricity in 2035 and 100% in 2045. Large-scale and rooftop solar is projected to provide more than half of the grid’s power by 2045.
- The imminent change in payments to customers drove a three-month surge in homeowners applying for solar connections leading up to the deadline. But then came a 90% decline last May compared to May of 2022, according to state data for areas served by Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.
- In all, about 82% fewer customers applied for solar connections from May through November of last year compared to a year earlier. Fewer than 4,000 customers applied in November, the last month with available data.
- Now California’s utilities and solar companies have to wait to see if these declines are short-term or permanent.
- Deepak Rajagopal, an energy economist at UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability, said it’s no surprise that consumers balked at going solar after the reimbursement rate changed from what he called the “generous” system. He said the higher payments were a burden on people who don’t have solar. …
- The new rule’s impact on the solar industry has been immediate. As many as 17,000 solar workers in California might have lost their jobs by the end of last year, according to industry estimates.
- “The market is in the gutter,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association, an industry group. “It should be no surprise to anybody. If you are a business and your market took [an] 80% nosedive, with great pain you have to lay off. Some companies shut their doors.
- “We are talking about the largest solar market in the country,” she said. “This was the most impactful energy decision, easily, for this century so far.”
- The utility commission rule was hotly debated and ultimately passed by unanimous vote. Part of the agency’s rationale was about equity: Because solar customers, largely middle class or wealthy, are being paid near-retail prices for their excess power, they are not paying their fair share of fixed costs to maintain the state’s grid, saddling other ratepayers with higher bills. That burden, regulators said, disproportionately falls on low-income households that can’t afford solar panels.
- The utilities commission said the high rates paid to solar customers amounted to a subsidy, and that state incentive programs for installing battery storage systems alongside rooftop solar would provide better, longer-term value for ratepayers. …
- Solar industry executives say California’s rate changes are affecting low and middle income homeowners, where rooftop solar had begun to gain inroads. The Berkeley Lab reported that in 2022 about 45% of solar adopters nationwide were below a threshold used to define low and moderate income. In California, household incomes between $50,000 and 100,000 are the largest segment of solar customers, the report found.
- As the solar market has matured, costs have come down, allowing homeowners of modest means to adopt solar systems and lower their utility bills. …
- Solar can still make financial sense for homeowners who can afford the upfront costs and wait out the return on their investment. Federal tax credits can cover 30% of the installation cost. And as their use of power from the grid declines and they get paid for excess power, customers generally expect to have their new solar system paid off in six to eight years, according to the utilities commission. It’s faster for installations that include battery storage. …
- MIKE: There’s a lot more to this article. Some is about how businesses doing solar sales and installation are being affected, and the rest is mostly California-specific. But I thought there was some useful information about how policy affects economics, about power equity, and about how equity for some can feel unfair to others.
- MIKE: There’s also some discussion about the economics of payback when purchasing a solar system and how that calculation affects the buying decision.
- MIKE: I’ve had my solar system installed now for about 19 months, so I have some real-world experience behind what I’ll be sharing with you.
- MIKE: When I was planning the system, my roof only had room for a certain number of panels. My vendor estimated that based on my usage, it would cover about 50% of my consumption, and on average it does that.
- MIKE: The most surprising thing I learned first was that solar panels don’t work in the event of a power failure. If they did, they would risk electrocuting line repair people. They also wouldn’t provide steady power without a utility buffer. So they’re on when power is on, but off when power is off. This immediately eliminates what might seem like an attractive feature in emergencies.
- MIKE: This article also delves into the economics of selling power back to utilities and how much they offer, or are legally obliged to pay you. The retail price of electricity is not all you pay for. You also pay for the power infrastructure to send power to you and receive it back from your panels.
- MIKE: For example, I’m ready to pick a new electricity contract, so I’m very involved in what costs are now. The cost of “delivery charges” — which is to say, the power lines maintained by Centerpoint — is always passed through. That’s currently about a third of what you pay for each kilowatt you use. That means that you’re never going to get more than 2/3 of the price per kilowatt you paid, at best. You’ll never feel like it’s an even trade. So that’s a losing proposition when you figure your payback.
- MIKE: All of this is why including batteries as part of your system makes economic sense in the long run.
- MIKE: First, you only get one shot at the federal tax credit. If you buy the panels and add the batteries later, the credit no longer applies for the batteries, or any additional panels you want to add. Since batteries will be the biggest single expense of your system, you want that tax credit on the batteries in the initial installation.
- MIKE: Also, a battery-backed system will provide you with power in the event of an outage because it automatically disconnects from the network in a power interruption. This protects line workers while protecting you. This backup power can, at a minimum, run your refrigerator and some lights, as well as fans and floor heaters and maybe some medical equipment. If you want to run AC and heat, that means having at least 2-3 batteries, and the economics there might be harder to justify, depending on your situation.
- MIKE: Second, having batteries also means worrying less about the buy-back price from selling power to the utilities. I have my batteries set to never discharge to less than 50%, in case of power failures. There is rarely a day that I send power back to CenterPoint, so it hardly concerns me. At best, most days, my batteries charge up to 90+%. They then discharge to 50% overnight, and use network power until the sun is high enough to power the house.
- MIKE: If I pick a contract that includes buyback provisions, the electricity actually costs more, making that concept less appealing. So I’ll probably not go that route.
- Lastly, there are options in getting a solar system. You can buy it outright with cash or a loan, or you can lease it. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so that depends on what works for you.
- MIKE: Do keep this in mind: The monthly payment for your solar system is a lot like buying a house. Your payments are fixed, but inflation will make your electricity cost — and hopefully, your income — go up. That means your panels will pay back faster as your cost savings increase, and your income will make paying for the system easier.
- MIKE: My next contract will cost me 50% more per kilowatt than my last one. I’ll save more money from my system and the savings will apply to my monthly payment. At some point, I’ll actually make money without selling power back to the utility.
- MIKE: Since the equity question is perhaps more in Andrew’s wheelhouse, I’ll let him address that.
- ANDREW: Before I get to that, I do want to mention that there is a new kind of solar inverter that can automatically disconnect your panels from the grid in a power outage and allow them to continue generating electricity without a battery backup in place. A few companies are offering this, and retrofitting one of these new inverters may be cheaper than buying a battery system, but of course the downside is that without batteries, your emergency electricity goes away if it gets dark or too cloudy. There’s a link to an article mentioning these options on the blog at com.
- ANDREW: Now, as for equity. I think the argument that people who can afford solar and thus get the benefits of reduced electric bills shift their share of maintenance costs onto the electric bills of people who can’t afford solar makes logical sense, and I agree that it’s unfair. So it’s not something that can just be ignored. Reducing the power buyback rate for solar-equipped customers does make sense as a response.
- ANDREW: However, I wonder whether the California PUC considered the economic impact of cutting these rates so sharply. As much as the fairness and financial wellbeing of lower-income people without solar does matter, those same things matter too for employees of solar firms who are now facing layoffs. My hope is that the incentives to purchase batteries might help demand recover after this initial shock from the change, and that might save solar jobs or help laid off solar workers find new jobs in the industry. But there’s no guarantee of that.
- ANDREW: I think it would be worth it for the CPUC to consider raising the buyback rate slightly, back to maybe 30 or 40% of what it was before this change. This would still provide some relief for lower-income grid customers, but might make the buyback rates attractive enough to restore a good chunk of the demand for solar. I think a majority rate cut is still important to achieve that equity for lower-income people, so I wouldn’t go above 40% of the previous rate, but incremental increases by five percent might help the commission find a sweet spot between equity for consumers and preserving solar workers’ jobs.
- MIKE: Those are good points. I will add that those solar power inverters with auto cutoffs are new to me, but I’m not sure how much they change the math in the long run (and it’s almost always the long run since very few people pay cash). Also, they only provide a low level of emergency power (light bulbs and a fridge, maybe when there’s sun.
- MIKE: This solar inverter is cited as costing about $1000 plus install. A Tesla Powerwall 2 is suggested at about $8400 (Around $12-13,000 installed). That’s before any tax credits. Also, for lower income households, those tax credits can be spread over as many tax seasons as necessary to get it back.
- MIKE: I tend to agree that the CPUC buyback rate cuts were too dramatic. But their policy also created a situation of anticipatory demand. In other words, potential consumers who were considering a purchase felt compelled to rush into one before the advantageous circumstances changed. This created a huge unanticipated demand that turned into a demand collapse once the perceived purchase deadline had passed. With that present and future demand exhausted, it will take time for consumer assets to rebuild and a normal consumer demand pattern to re-emerge.
- MIKE: In short, California is seeing the results of bad government policy. One might call this an unanticipated consequence of their good intentions, but was it really hard for regulators and effected businesses to predict this outcome? It might have been less severe if regulators had reduced solar buyback pricing on a phased basis that applied to all owners of solar systems equally. But I’ll leave professionals to consider that. I’m just a commentator.
- The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried.; MRI machines need thousands of liters of liquid helium to function. Health care workers say they can’t afford any disruptions to the helium supply chain. By Caroline Hopkins | NBCNEWS.COM | Jan. 25, 2024, 4:03 PM CST
- On Thursday [last week], the U.S. government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile based in Amarillo, Texas, that supplies up to 30% of the country’s helium.
- Once the deal is finalized, the buyer — which will likely be the highest bidder, the industrial gas company Messer — will claim some 425 miles of pipelines spanning Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, plus about 1 billion cubic feet of the only element on Earth cold enough to make an MRI machine work.
- Regulatory and logistical issues with the facility threaten a temporary shutdown as it passes from public to private ownership, and hospital supply chain experts worry the sale could have serious consequences for health care down the road — especially when it comes to MRIs.
- To be sure, a Federal Helium Reserve shutdown wouldn’t mean that MRIs would suddenly power down across the country, said Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs at Premier Inc., which contracts with helium suppliers on behalf of 4,400 hospitals in the U.S. “But we are stressing about this shortage. From a health care perspective, MRI machines are the No. 1 concern.” …
- The superconductive magnet-powered imaging machines give doctors clear, high-resolution images of areas inside the body they can’t see on X-rays and CT scans. But without liquid helium, the Earth’s coldest element, MRI machines can’t keep their magnets cool enough to generate these images.
- The sale of the government’s stockpile of the nonrenewable element could exacerbate an existing supply shortage, Saha said.
- A number of factors could trigger a shutdown of the facility that could last as long as three years, said Rich Gottwald, CEO of the Compressed Gas Association, a trade group that represents companies, including Messer, that buy up helium and sell it to hospitals, semiconductor manufacturers, NASA and other customers.
- The facility spans three states, each with its own laws. The federal government didn’t need to reconcile state-specific rules, but a private buyer would, he said. Another issue is that helium must be enriched before it can be used, and a separate system is needed to do that. That enrichment system isn’t part of the federal reserve, but is privately owned by four private companies, including Messer; unlike the pipelines and helium itself, it wasn’t for sale.
- “A new owner will need to create some sort of lease to use the enrichment unit, or build their own unit to enrich the helium,” Gottwald said. “There’s a whole host of issues that need to be resolved and the concern is, until they’re resolved, the system will need to shut down.”
- In a letter in October urging the White House to delay the sale, the CGA and four other trade associations laid out what they see as the most critical issues at the facility. Two of the trade associations behind the letter, AdvaMed and the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, represent MRI manufacturers.
- “Timely, critical patient care would suffer if helium supplies constricted further,” Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed’s CEO, wrote in an email to NBC News. “AdvaMed urges the White House to delay the sale and privatization of the Federal Helium Reserve until outstanding issues identified by the Compressed Gas Association are resolved.”
- The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. It was initially supposed to occur in 2021, but a series of delays — in part due to the same logistical and regulatory issues threatening shutdowns today — postponed the auction to Thursday.
- In an emailed statement, a spokesperson from the U.S. Interior Department said the sale would not constrict helium supply.
- “Sale of the reserve to a private party, as Congressionally mandated by law, is not expected to meaningfully change the availability of helium,” the spokesperson wrote.
- There’s a finite amount of helium on Earth. The largest reserves are in massive underground pockets in parts of Algeria, Qatar, Russia and the U.S.
- While the Texas stockpile is the largest source of helium in the U.S., it’s not the only one. There are a number of smaller, privately owned facilities — some of which are in Colorado and Wyoming — according to Gottwald.
- Sourcing helium inside the U.S. or from Canada is the easiest and cheapest option. Transit time is an important factor: If the shipment takes longer than 35 to 48 days, the liquid helium will evaporate.
- The two other biggest helium reserves are in Qatar and Russia.
- “Shutting down the U.S. helium reserve would force a situation where we would have to increase our reliance on foreign sources, like Qatar and Russia,” Saha said. “Given the ongoing geopolitical concerns and tensions in those regions and shipping delays, it would increase concerns around potential shortages on U.S. soil.” …
- Helium was already in short supply before the government sale. Currently, Kornbluth said, three out of five U.S. helium suppliers are rationing the element to prioritize life-or-death uses like MRI machines ahead of less-essential helium uses, like keeping party balloons afloat. …
- [Said Jeremy Meadows, executive director of strategic sourcing for the University of California,] “Our helium-dependent research is only growing.” … Should the available supply decline further, he said, “I just don’t know how we position ourselves to get that supply.” …
- MRI manufacturers have responded to the uncertain future of helium with their own solutions. Both Philips and Siemens Healthineers recently started selling alternatives to traditional MRI machines, which hold 1,700 to 1,800 liters of liquid helium and require constant replenishment. Some models now require just 1 to 7 liters of helium and don’t need any replenishment. Spokespeople from both companies touted these newer models as cost-effective for hospitals, especially if helium prices keep rising.
- But an MRI machine is a long-term investment, and many hospitals have been counting on their current, helium-dependent MRI equipment to last years, if not decades, more. …
- Still, the uncertain helium supply has brought an uptick in interest in these newer models, Saha said. [She added that,] “We’re seeing health care providers trying to get ahead of this by inquiring about MRI systems that use minimal to no helium”. …
- “Our hope is that health care will be prioritized, but that’s never a guarantee during any shortage of any item,” she said.
- For now, Reeder suggested, helium consumers must be judicious. “It’s probably not good to use helium for party balloons anymore,” he said.
- MIKE: It might be worth explaining a couple of things about helium. Hydrogen is plentiful on Earth because it readily combines with oxygen and other elements, but because it so readily oxidizes, it can be extremely dangerous and hard to control. If hydrogen wasn’t so ready to combine with other elements, it would have all escaped Earth’s atmosphere long ago.
- MIKE: On the other hand, helium did escape from Earth’s atmosphere. Because it’s inert and lighter than air or almost anything else, it readily escapes from our atmosphere into space. It combines with nothing in nature. That’s why helium is what’s called a “noble gas”. All that’s left on Earth is in the ground, usually mixed in with oil and natural gas.
- MIKE: That’s also why the other two big suppliers are Russia and Qatar. They’re both big producers of oil and gas. Helium is essentially a valuable by-product once you recognize it as such and can capture it.
- MIKE: Getting back to the story, I frankly have no idea why it’s not called the STRATEGIC Federal Helium Reserve since it’s actually scarce irreplaceable, and hard to come by outside the US.
- MIKE: Maybe you sometimes hear that blimps or dirigibles could make a comeback as cheap and efficient air transport? Not without helium they won’t, and as helium becomes scarcer and gets more expensive, that idea won’t fly either … At least, metaphorically speaking.
- ANDREW: What I want to know is why exactly the federal government decided it was a good idea to sell off this strategic reserve. I mean, I do have an answer: a Texas Monthly article about the sale lays the blame at Bill Clinton’s feet, saying that his desire to reduce the national debt resulted in the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 to generate revenue to pay it down. This law didn’t mandate selling all of the helium and the facility to store it, though. That came from the bipartisan Helium Stewardship Act of 2013, which doesn’t seem to have been explained like the 1996 Act was. My best guess is… they wanted to finish the job?
- ANDREW: I think the decision to sell most of the helium in 1996 was an understandable decision, and one I might have made in a milder form (and with the mistakenly low price ceiling fixed, of course). After all, helium became very useful for industrial processes in the years following, and having a government-regulated reliable supply isn’t a bad idea. But I would have kept maybe a third of the helium in reserve, instead of allowing it all to be eventually sold. Because you never know when you might be able to stop a war by saying “here, have some helium”. This sale just seems short sighted to me; privatization for privatization’s sake. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to get our reserve back before the big underground balloon is empty.
- REFERENCE: A Noble Gas Surprise: Helium Can Form Weird Compounds — SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM
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