CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On your November ballot you will see over a dozen proposed Texas Constitutional Amendments. A few of those would create new state funding accounts. One of those is outlined in Proposition 7.
Proposition 7 would create the Texas Energy Fund and would be used to incentivize the building of natural gas power plants with low interest loans from this fund. The 3% loans would require the facility to be fully dispatchable and generate above 100 megawatts.
Battery, wind and solar energy plants are excluded from this.
“That’s going to best serve the needs of Texans by giving them the most reliable, the most cost effective and the cleanest energy sources they can get,” Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) CEO Pablo Vegas said.
KRIS 6 News reporter Eran Hami recently sat down with Vegas to discuss why the constitutional amendment was written this way.
“In order to meet the growth of the state, we have to grow the resources on the grid in a balanced way and that balance is really important. We can’t get too lopsided on only developing renewables alone or only developing batteries,” he said.
Although almost half of the state’s energy source comes from fossil fuels, the next highest source comes from wind energy. According to U.S. News and World Report, Texas is the U.S. leader in wind energy.
“The fastest amount of renewable energy growth in Texas compared to anywhere else in the United States," Vegas said. "We have more wind here than anywhere else. By the end of next year we may have more solar power generated here than anywhere else and we’re one of the fastest growing battery systems.”
Elida Castillo and her program, Chispa Texas are against Proposition 7. Chispa Texas is part of the League of Conservation Voters and aims to inform and engage people in environmental issues, particularly in Latinx communities. She said this state constitutional amendment won't benefit the average person.
“Everyday people who are trying to put food on their tables and pay their energy bills, it’s not going to help them. It’s only going to help these industries,” she said.
She said ERCOT believes the Texas Energy Fund will help prevent blackouts like we saw in January 2021. But Castillo doesn’t believe that and said renewable energy is where the state should invest.
“We need renewable especially in a market where we are exporting more fracked gas or natural gas to other countries. And so, it’s only going to increase our bills that we pay at the end of the day,” she said.
Castillo is also concerned about the impact these natural gas plants may have in communities they’re built.
“We’re increasing how much pollution goes into our air," Castillo said. "We’re seeing illnesses, we’re seeing more people with asthma, with more cardiovascular disease.”
$5 billion is already set to be added to the Texas Energy Fund if this passes. More state money is expected to be added for upgrades and repairs of existing plants. There's also a bonus to those that complete their plants before 2029.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
