Anti-renewable bills die quietly in GOP-controlled Texas legislature
A slate of bills targeting the Texas renewables industry are now doomed after missing a key deadline in the state House.
The bills had become the focus in an intra-Republican battle over the future of Texas energy, and of GOP energy policy writ large — as well as the role of the state in administering markets.
The fight in Texas echoed a similar fight in Washington, where red-state senators whose districts have benefited from billions in clean energy investment are now pushing back against a House budget that seeks to eliminate Biden-era tax credits that incentivized that spending.
In the Lone Star State, the fight has been an understated victory for the renewables industry.
Taken together, the package of bills sought to impose strict limitations on the state's nation-leading renewables program. They were backed by far-right advocacy groups but opposed by significant factions of the state's business lobby.
S.B. 819 would have strictly limited where wind and solar could be built. S.B. 388 would have required every new watt of wind or solar to be accompanied by a watt of new gas, despite the shortage of the gas turbines that would make that possible. And S.B. 715 would have required several gigawatts of existing wind and solar to purchase backup gas generation or pay a fine.
While all three bills passed the state Senate over the last month, leadership in the House declined to put them on a crucial calendar in time for them to receive a vote before the session ends on Monday.
Polling from a pro-renewables conservative group suggests that restrictions on renewables are broadly unpopular — and growing more so — even among most Texas Republicans.
But the bills, two of which are updates of legislation introduced in 2023, are a sign of future political headwinds facing the state's renewables industry — particularly as a wave of new projects in the Texas exurbs, whatever their broad popularity, creates local discontent that anti-renewables organizers are mobilizing around.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
29 minutes ago
- The Hill
Anthropic CEO: GOP AI regulation proposal ‘too blunt'
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei criticized the latest Republican proposal to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) as 'far too blunt an instrument' to mitigate the risks of the rapidly evolving technology. In an op-ed published by The New York Times on Thursday, Amodei said the provision barring states from regulating AI for 10 years — which the Senate is now considering under President Trump's massive policy and spending package — would 'tie the hands of state legislators' without laying out a cohesive strategy on the national level. 'The motivations behind the moratorium are understandable,' the top executive of the artificial intelligence startup wrote. 'It aims to prevent a patchwork of inconsistent state laws, which many fear could be burdensome or could compromise America's ability to compete with China.' 'But a 10-year moratorium is far too blunt an instrument,' he continued. 'A.I. is advancing too head-spinningly fast. I believe that these systems could change the world, fundamentally, within two years; in 10 years, all bets are off.' Amodei added, 'Without a clear plan for a federal response, a moratorium would give us the worst of both worlds — no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop.' The tech executive outlined some of the risks that his company, as well as others, have discovered during experimental stress tests of AI systems. He described a scenario in which a person tells a bot that it will soon be replaced with a newer model. The bot, which previously was granted access to the person's emails, threatens to expose details of his marital affair by forwarding his emails to his wife — if the user does not reverse plans to shut it down. 'This scenario isn't fiction,' Amodei wrote. 'Anthropic's latest A.I. model demonstrated just a few weeks ago that it was capable of this kind of behavior.' The AI mogul added that transparency is the best way to mitigate risks without overregulating and stifling progress. He said his company publishes results of studies voluntarily but called on the federal government to make these steps mandatory. 'At the federal level, instead of a moratorium, the White House and Congress should work together on a transparency standard for A.I. companies, so that emerging risks are made clear to the American people,' Amodei wrote. He also noted the standard should require AI developers to adopt policies for testing models and publicly disclose them, as well as require that they outline steps they plan to take to mitigate risk. The companies, the executive continued, would 'have to be upfront' about steps taken after test results to make sure models were safe. 'Having this national transparency standard would help not only the public but also Congress understand how the technology is developing, so that lawmakers can decide whether further government action is needed,' he added. Amodei also suggested state laws should follow a similar model that is 'narrowly focused on transparency and not overly prescriptive or burdensome.' Those laws could then be superseded if a national transparency standard is adopted, Amodei said. He noted the issue is not a partisan one, praising steps Trump has taken to support domestic development of AI systems. 'This is not about partisan politics. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have long raised concerns about A.I. and about the risks of abdicating our responsibility to steward it well,' the executive wrote. 'I support what the Trump administration has done to clamp down on the export of A.I. chips to China and to make it easier to build A.I. infrastructure here in the United States.' 'This is about responding in a wise and balanced way to extraordinary times,' he continued. 'Faced with a revolutionary technology of uncertain benefits and risks, our government should be able to ensure we make rapid progress, beat China and build A.I. that is safe and trustworthy. Transparency will serve these shared aspirations, not hinder them.'
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Silver prices hit 13-year high as dollar weakens amid tariff uncertainty: 'The breakout has been brewing'
Silver (SI=F) prices surged to 13-year highs on Thursday, breaking above $35 per ounce amid uncertainty over President Trump's tariff policy and the continued decline of the US dollar. Spot silver rose to climb above $35.90, its highest level since February 2012, while futures for July delivery (SI=F) jumped more than 4% to hover above $36 per troy ounce. The move follows a recent resurgence in gold (GC=F) prices, which have been driven by trade policy uncertainty and continued central bank demand buying. "The breakout has been brewing for a while," Maria Smirnova, senior portfolio manager and chief investment officer at Sprott Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. "Silver had attempted to break through the $35 level a couple of times in recent months, so this is highly significant." "Furthermore, if the technical move catalyzes physical investor buying, it can take silver much higher very quickly," she added. The market for silver, sitting just above an estimated $2 trillion, is much smaller than gold's more than $22 trillion. That makes the volatility in silver prices up to two to three times greater than that of gold. Read more: How to invest in gold in 4 steps The precious metal also has industrial uses, from electronics to automobile components to solar panels, making prices susceptible to any imbalance between supply and demand as the US moves to increase domestic manufacturing. "We have been talking for a while about the supply/demand deficits in silver, since 2021 there has been a cumulative 800m oz draw and the deficits are projected to continue. Silver has a very positive investment case right now," Smirnova said. A falling US dollar index ( has also sent the price of silver lower, given the inverse correlation between the greenback and precious metals. The greenback has been under pressure in recent weeks amid weariness over increased fiscal US spending as capital shifts toward currencies and stocks abroad. Trump's proposed tax bill, which is said to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, passed the House last month. Year to date, silver is up more than 23%. Gold has risen 29% over the same period. To be sure, StoneX head of market analysis Rhona O'Connell pointed out that silver is "notoriously volatile and it is fully capable of dropping" as sharply as it rises. "This is not necessarily a false move," O'Connell said, "but it is now heavily overbought and should, as always when silver does this sort of thing, be treated with caution." Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Very disappointed in Elon': Trump, Musk spar amid continued criticism of ‘big beautiful' megabill
President Donald Trump publicly chastised Elon Musk — his onetime adviser and a major political benefactor — on Thursday, amid the Tesla CEO's continued attempts to take down the cornerstone of Republicans' legislative agenda. Responding to a question about Musk's posts during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, Trump said he was 'surprised' and 'disappointed' by Musk's attacks. 'Elon and I had a great relationship,' Trump told reporters. 'I don't know if we will anymore.' He later said he was 'very disappointed in Elon' and that 'I've helped Elon a lot.' Musk has been on a three-day rampage against Republicans' reconciliation package in Congress. Earlier on Thursday, he needled Trump directly for the first time — resurfacing old social media posts in which Trump said he was 'embarrassed' by Republican efforts to extend the debt limit. Musk shared the posts on X, which he owns, adding his own facetious approval.
