Thread by @douglewinenergy

Senate B&C Cmte starting in a minute. Agenda lists only "pending business," but, among other things, they will consider PUC Sunset bill which could become a vehicle for all sorts of amendments. #txlege 1/🧵 capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/His…
Live video feed here: tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph…

Also up for discussion for today is #HB5, to potentially create a successor economic development program to the one that ended in December last year. Details from @bradj_TX here:

https://twitter.com/bradj_TX/status/1660360050106302468?s=20

They have paused the hearing while they wait for @CreightonForTX #txlege

Senator @Menendez4Texas asks if they can discuss while they wait. Chair @DrSchwertner prefers to wait for Creighton. He says they'll discuss as long as he wants, they do that in the Senate, a dig at House State Affairs for refusing discussion on SB 7 & SB2627 last week. #txlege

They are now discussion #HB5. Apparently the substitute maintains the language that bans tax abatements for any company with an ESG statement. That would include Exxon and just about every other major oil and petrochemical company in the world. Absolute crazytown. #txlege

He says there has been a "vigorous discussion" on this section. I'll bet. Gotta imagine just about every major manufacturer in the state has a goal to pursue environmental goals.

Chair @DrSchwertner says that there will be further amendment of this section on the floor.

The Senate is taking a strong anti-Dow Chemical position. #txlege
corporate.dow.com/en-us/esg/repo…

Hey @SamsungUS, no more economic development incentives for you!
samsung.com/global/sustain…

They also removed battery energy storage from #HB5 because why would we want to use economic development to help make the grid more reliable? Who would want that? #txlege #energytwitter

Here's the projects that won Texas the Governor's Cup. How many do you think have ESG statements? The #1 project, Golden Triangle Polymers, has a sustainability statement. This TPPF driven madness against sustainability will hurt the economy. #txlege
goldentrianglepolymers.com/project-overvi…

Number 2 on the list is Cheniere. They also have ESG goals. “The Cheniere team achieved significant milestones across our ESG initiatives last year" said their CEO. No longer eligible for economic development in Texas. Go to Louisiana, Cheniere! #txlege
lngir.cheniere.com/news-events/pr…

86% of S&P 500 companies have ESG reports. Texas will be able to recruit the other 14% though. This should be fine.

This is what happens when you let a fringe group drive state policy. #txlege
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Here's #3 on the list (HIF) for the Governor's Cup qualifications. These folks are for (please don't let your children see this) ... decarbonization! They even have a wind turbine pictured on their website. Get out of our state now! #txlege
hifglobal.com/about-us/

Here's the #4 on the list, Globalwafers created 1500 jobs in Sherman, Texas. You guessed it, they have an ESG statement. Sherman isn't far from Oklahoma, guess they'll look there if they want to expand. Much more business friendly state up there. #txlege
sas-globalwafers.com/en/esg/

@DrSchwertner says trying to stop "ideological statements" from companies. Good luck! Going to drive a lot of these companies across the borders. Note Gov Stitt is actively pursing "green energy" in Oklahoma. Looks like he has more sense than #txlege
reuters.com/world/us/oklah…

Note that renewable energy development is also banned from receiving incentives. "Michael Lee, director of the Texas Association of Rural Schools, testified Thursday that removing wind and solar farms would deny good jobs to rural Texans..." (cont.)
houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas…

"...and sorely needed cash to school districts with few other prospects for investment. 'Quite frankly you’re leaving out rural Texas and that’s 90 percent of the state,' said Lee.”

If you're a rural Rep or Senator, don't know why you'd vote for this w/out renewables.#txlege

@DrSchwertner and Senator Nichols both have @nucor in their district.

Hate to tell you, gentelmen:
nucor.com/esg

They just had a long discussion about using economic development to attract innovative technologies. But they want to leave out wind, solar, and battery energy storage systems. These are ... innovative technologies no?

Here's #5 on the Site Selection list that won @GovAbbott's coveted Governor's Cup. Another just out in the open for "decarbonizing." Quelle horreur! They're in Beaumont. I'm sure @LouisianaGov will welcome them just across the border though. #txlege

Chair Schwertner says wind and solar and storage will be excluded because they get federal incentives.

There are now large incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, too, from the CHIPS Act. I assume they'll take that out, too, if that's the reason. #txlege

Here's #6 on the list, AES. $4 billion investment in Texas according to Site Selection magazine. Also ineligible for economic development. A sustainable future?! They reading Marx over there? #txlege

Here's #7, Lancium. Low-Cost! Zero Carbon! Why do they hate Texas so much? #txenergy

#8 is in @SenatorNichols district. It's a renewable fuels company that created 142 jobs in Newton County. They have Renewable right in their name ("Texas Renewable Fuels"). Is that "ideological." Also have a Sustainability statement right there on their homepage.

Vote on #HB5 is 6 yes, 2 no, and 3 PNV. The two no's were Senators Middleton and Koklhorst. All three D's were PNVs. #txlege

Chair Schwertner says they will not hear HB1500, the PUC Sunset bill, until after the House hears SB7 and SB2627. Those are on the House floor tomorrow but likely not until the evening given House isn't in until 1:00 tomorrow. Going to a crazy final week. #txlege

I'll have a Texas Energy and Power Newsletter up soon previewing those grid bills on the House floor tomorrow. Subscribe here. #txlege #txenergy #energytwitter
douglewin.substack.com