Kudos to Gov. Perry’s renewable energy push but his environmental facts are wrong | Opinion

Gov. Rick Perry deserves a lot of credit for Texas’ leadership in renewable energy. Unfortunately in his recent opinion piece for the American-Statesman, he didn’t get some key facts about the environment right.

I’m glad Governor Perry is concerned about whales — I am, too. But as of 2024, no U.S. whale death has been linked to offshore wind operations. The reality is, there aren’t a lot of wind turbines off America’s shores, and most of the planned wind projects are still in early phases of development.

All industrial-scale ocean activity has some impact on the animals that live there. Installing wind turbines in the ocean will disturb whales in the short term because of the noise and increased vessel traffic associated with fixing supports to the ocean floor and getting the turbines in place. That’s why federal agencies work with wind companies to develop strategies to mitigate these short term risks, including creating installation schedules timed to avoid whale migrations, enforcing installation stops if observers spot a whale nearby, and implementing new, innovative mitigation measures to reduce the impact of noise pollution created by installations.

Because offshore wind companies aren’t assessing as deep underground as oil and gas, those surveys are far quieter than those authorized in the oil and gas leasing process.

The biggest threats facing whales include entanglements in fishing gear and being struck by boats and plastic pollution. Other risks include a rise in ocean noise and climate change, which threatens to alter whales’ habitat and food sources.

At Environment Texas, we’re all about conservation. We share a vision of a Texas of wide open spaces with plenty of state parks and other natural areas where people can hike, fish, camp, raft and hunt.

But we also know that Texas needs to supply power for our homes, businesses, schools and places of worship, and it’s best for our air and water if we do so as cleanly as possible. Fortunately, Texas has the greatest solar and wind resources in the whole country. The more we can harness the power of our sunshine and wind, the healthier our water, air and land will be.

In a 2005 special session called by Gov. Perry, the Legislature approved SB 20, a bill which increased the amount of renewable energy electric companies were required to buy and invest in the construction of new transmission lines to the windiest and sunniest parts of the state. That initiative, combined with federal tax incentives, created a boom in renewable energy.

Today, Texas leads the nation in solar and wind energy and we’ve reaped enormous benefits. According to Josh Rhodes, an energy researcher at the University of Texas, because wind and solar are now among the cheapest forms of energy, “renewables have saved the average residential household about $200 per year over the past five years” while cutting carbon pollution by 577 million cumulative tons between 2010 and 2022. Unlike coal and gas plants, wind and solar use very little water and thus saved the state 252 billion gallons of water during that period.

It’s an environmental success story and the growth of wind and solar energy is critical to cutting deadly air pollution plaguing our cities and the climate change threatening people and wildlife alike. At the same time, we need to make sure that we minimize the impacts to our land and wildlife from energy projects – fossil fuel and renewable energy alike.

But despite the facts, some politicians just don’t like renewable energy and want to make it harder to build. Unfortunately, legislation under consideration in Austin would erect new bureaucratic obstacles to solar and wind power. If you’re a landowner who wants to put wind turbines or solar panels on your property, you’d face new government hurdles that don’t exist now.

The result? Renewable energy development in Texas could grind to a halt. That would mean more air and water pollution threatening our health and land and higher electric bills.

We need more clean energy, not less. More wind and solar energy, battery storage, energy efficiency and interconnection with the national grid which will strengthen our electric grid and protect consumers and the environment.

By protecting pristine areas like wild rivers and grasslands, creating setbacks from neighboring properties and reducing runoff and light pollution, we can develop our natural resources responsibly. That’s the solution – not bans on renewable energy or red tape that will hurt landowners and our environment.

Luke Metzger is executive director of the non-profit Environment Texas.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Gov. Perry deserves credit for Texas renewable energy | Opinion