For
Immediate Release (Tuesday, October 26, 2010):
Read about
it on www.TexasGreenReport.org!
Contact:
Jennifer Powis, Sierra Club, 713-984-4824
Cyrus Reed, Sierra Club, 512-740-4086
Luke Metzger, Environment Texas, 512-743-8257
Josh Kratka, Esq., National Environmental Law Center, 617-747-4346
Sierra Club and Environment Texas Settlement with Shell Pays
off in 700 Solar Panels on Baytown Schools
Project Saves Thousands for Schools; Teaching
Students Renewable Energy Benefits
(Baytown) Sierra Club and Environment Texas are celebrating
the
installation of a solar power project at two
south Houston, Texas schools that is the
result of the groups’ $6 million April 2009 settlement with Shell Oil Company concerning Clean Air Act violations at the company’s Deer Park Texas Refinery and Chemical plant. The settlement brought about reductions in pollution at the Deer Park plant and established, among other clean air efforts, this $2 million project at Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena and South High School in South Houston.
“We are delighted with this solar power
project in the two south Houston schools --
It not only demonstrates the best direction
for Texas clean energy future, it also provides
real benefits to the schools and the young
people,” said Sierra
Club’s Jennifer Powis. “The
school district is expected to save over $10,000
annually in reduced electricity bills and the
students will study and learn how solar power
works.”
Grace Blasingame is the Science Content Specialist for Sam Rayburn High School -- “This project is unique in that we are installing three different solar technologies (panels) and will be monitoring them separately. Our students will experience a real life science experiment where they can make a hypothesis on which solar panel group will be the most efficient, collect the data, and draw conclusions. The data we collect will be available to anyone through our website’s
solar database.”
Sierra Club and Environment Texas highlighted efforts in the Texas State Legislature to create incentives for homeowners and businesses to likewise install solar power.
In 2009, Senator Fraser’s bill to fund up to $1 billion in solar incentives passed the Texas Senate, but fell victim to end of session fighting on unrelated legislation. Senator
Fraser, now chair of the Senate Natural Resources committee, has pledged to push for similar legislation when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“Solar and schools are a perfect match. Solar cuts
energy costs for cash-strapped schools, cuts pollution endangering
the future of our schoolchildren and gives kids a hand-on
way to learn about science and technology,” said Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. “We’re
proud to have helped get solar on these schools, but we need
a future where solar is on every school, home and business,
in Texas.”
Cyrus Reed with Sierra
Club added, “To make it easier for businesses and families to install solar, we’d
like to see common rules in Texas for solar rooftop registration,
interconnection and the fair market price for any excess
solar power put back into the electrical grid. Good solar
policies are how cloudy northeastern states like Connecticut
and New Jersey are installing more solar than Texas. We have
a great solar resource waiting to be tapped.”
