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Advancing alternative energies, no state taxes, a good economy... Texas is doing pretty well. Now if some other states, ahem, would learn by example.

posted by JJFad on Jul 19, 2008 at 09:21:00 am     #

Like JJFad hinted at, let's copy more from Texas than just putting up some propellers.

JJFad's March 2008 posting titled Ohio v. Texas which pointed to the Wall Street Journal article by the same name :

Ohio now ranks 47th out of 50 in economic competitiveness, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ohio politicians deplore plant closings even as they impose the third highest corporate income tax in the country (10.5%) and the sixth highest personal income tax (8.87%).

Ohio is a "closed shop" state, which means workers can be forced to join a union whether they wish to or not. Many companies -- especially foreign-owned -- say they will not even consider such locations for new sites. States with "right to work" laws that make union organizing more difficult had twice the job growth of Ohio and other forced union states from 1995-2005, according to the National Institute for Labor Relations.

Ohio, Indiana and Michigan are losing auto jobs, but many of these "runaway plants" are not fleeing to China, Mexico or India. They've moved to more business-friendly U.S. states, including Texas. GM recently announced plans for a new plant to build hybrid cars. Guess where? Near Dallas. In 2006 the Lone Star State exported $5.5 billion of cars and trucks to Mexico and $2.4 billion worth to Canada.

Texas is a right to work state and has been adding jobs by the tens of thousands. Nearly 1,000 new plants have been built in Texas since 2005, from the likes of Microsoft, Samsung and Fujitsu. Foreign-owned companies supplied the state with 345,000 jobs. No wonder Texans don't fear global competition the way some Presidential candidates do.

Texas has no income tax, a huge competitive advantage.

Ohio's most crippling handicap may be that its politicians -- and thus its employers -- are still in the grip of such industrial unions as the United Auto Workers.

From a spring 2007 Toledo Talk posting :

Least tax friendly states - Top 5
(State ---- State and local tax burden as % of income)

1. Vermont ---- 14.1%
2. Maine ---- 14.0%
3. New York ---- 13.8%
4. Rhode Island ---- 12.7%
5. Ohio ---- 12.4%

Texas was ranked 43rd at 9.3%.

In the 2007 small business survival index ranking, which was about "Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations?", Ohio is near the bottom, ranked 38th while Texas was ranked 9th.

June 2006 Toledo Blade op-ed titled Our shrinking cities :

While some blame the often harsh northern climate, we blame taxes: Ohio remains a high-tax state, and the resultant job loss, worsened by the steady erosion of manufacturing as an economic base, seems unrelenting.

A Blade op-ed blaming taxes?

posted by jr on Jul 19, 2008 at 10:09:18 am     #

Paying a fair wage is supposed to be what this county is all about. Notice that the happiest people in the world are living in the countries with theh highest tax rates.

Ohio could easily afford to build a new highly efficient grid thats not owned by the hog utility companies, because it would save us the same billions that it costs to construct.

Right about now 30 to 40% of your electric bill is to pay off the continuing costs of the davis besse mistake on the lake, a power plant using the most expensive way to boil water to make power ever conceived by man. It, like all reactors is in a constant state of rebuild after its design lifetime is magically and greatly extended with the dash of ink on paper.

With alternative power you could opt out of Davis Besse's continuing and dangerous existence. A new grid would allow it. Businesses and people could actually make a buck without giving it to the electricity troll.

posted by prime3end on Jul 19, 2008 at 11:09:10 am     #

Texas may also be looking at more than just wind power.

December 2006 USA Today story :

Faced with hazy rules and technology, many utilities are sticking with pulverized coal. In Texas, TXU is spending $10 billion to build 11 pulverized-coal plants by 2010, citing population growth. If all are built, TXU would become the fourth-largest carbon emitter, up from No. 10, says environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.

July 2007 story :

Last week, a University of Tennessee study projected that Texas would lead the nation in production of renewable energy by 2025, creating more than 173,000 jobs and adding about $22.8 billion annually to the state's economy.

Here's a look at some energy projects - proposed, under way or already in place - that many believe will revitalize West Texas.

Wind

Since the mid-1990s, wind turbines have stretched skyward in Texas; in 1999, the bladed towers began to dot mesas across portions of West Texas. The state last year surpassed California as the nation's leading producer, with 2,370 wind-generated megawatts, enough to power 600,000 homes a year.

Ethanol plants

Three plants are under construction in West Texas. Two plants in Hereford and one in Levelland will produce 240 million gallons a year when completed. Statewide, eight more are planned. Four of those, potentially adding 380 million gallons a year, would be built in West Texas.

Nuclear

The University of Texas System, Permian Basin cities and private industry hope to bring the nation's first High Temperature Teaching and Test Reactor to Andrews County. A feasibility study is under way on the reactor, which would cost $400 million and be completed by 2012. The reactor would use fuels that include uranium, some types of plutonium and thorium and spent reactor fuel elements now in secure locations across the country. Fuel pellets about the size of poppy seeds would be covered with three layers of ceramic coating and would not rupture at temperatures up to 3,600 degrees, according to University of Texas-Permian Basin's Jim Wright, a spokesman for the project. At high temperatures it's believed the reactor can generate hydrogen for alternative energy.

Coal-powered plant

The Permian Basin is one of four sites - two in Texas and two in Illinois - that are finalists for the $1.5 billion project headed by the U.S. Department of Energy and a consortium of 10 energy companies from the United States, China and Australia. The plant, billed as a prototype coal-fueled power plant that produces almost no pollutants, would store carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping "greenhouse" gas, underground. Possible locations are Mattoon and Tuscola, in eastern Illinois, and Odessa and Jewett, in Texas. A site is expected to be chosen in September.

I think that last paragraph is a reference to the FutureGen project, which Ohio was bidding for a couple years ago.

January 2006 Toledo Blade - Ohio seeks 1st near-zero emissions coal power plant

February 2006 Toledo Blade op-ed - Ohio best for FutureGen plant

WHERE'S the best place in the country to build America's first air-pollution-free coal-fired power plant? We think it's right here in the heart of it all: Ohio.

I think Mattoon, IL was chosen as a FutureGen site, but I'm unsure about the status of this project.

Posting last year about large data centers being built by Google and Microsoft around the country.

Microsoft is planning a new $550 million data center in San Antonio, Texas. This is in addition to the $500M data center being built in Quincy, Washington. Google has already started building a giant data center in The Dalles, Oregon. Another is planned for Blythewood, South Carolina on 466 acres. The project is expected to cost up to $800M and employ 600 people. The keys to where these data centers are being built? Cheap power and cheap land.

posted by jr on Jul 19, 2008 at 11:46:45 am     #

Texas is still behind the times with wind power, perhaps a decade. Ohio is many decades behind, since wind turbines should have dotted Lake Erie long ago.

Hopefully this late start for Texas will pan out. As for Ohio, it's probably too late. By the time somnolent Ohioans wake up and get their corrupt utilities installing real wind power, they will be paying the most for a product in its prime. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

posted by GuestZero on Jul 19, 2008 at 01:58:44 pm     #

It is amazing how states like Ohio don't look south more for tips on how to improve things. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and other states in the region have had very little impact from the poor economy. The housing markets barely flinched, job creation continues, and populations continue to grow. Yes there have been some hits along the way...like GM shutting the OKC assembly plant down. The result? Around 5000 or so people unemployed, but most found work right away in other sectors. OKC also recently agreed to sell the old GM plant to the US Air Force, to expand the Tinker AFB business park and maintenance facilities. So now instead of the buildings sitting empty for years (Honda wanted to come in, but GM of course said no) or simple demolished and a big empty scar...they will be redeveloped creating great paying jobs from the USAF, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grummon...among others.

Until residents in places like Ohio wake up and get rid of the crap politicians they continue to re-elect...it will be the same over and over again.

posted by JustaSooner on Jul 20, 2008 at 12:38:33 pm     #

sure Jr, Texas has some bad projects, but when T.B. Pickens gets on board people take notice. The states and communities that want to rise above the repulicon energy status quo, will move to wind and solar because it provides electricity for less money. That is a competitive advantage that Toledo sorely needs and wishes it had.

posted by prime3end on Jul 20, 2008 at 03:50:58 pm     #

Pickens is probably one of the last good people to come out of the oil industry. People around here recognize him as an alum of Oklahoma State (boo) and massive gifts he has given to them. Over the last couple years he has donated the largest single sums of cash to a university in a few different classifications. I think he is some where up over $400 million now in donations to them.

His plan is finally something that breaks out of the same old mold every other oil man is stuck in. Pretty much the biggest downside to his plan is planting thousands of wind generators through the rolling plains, plateaus, and canyons of West Texas...breaking away from the natural scenery. However, it is just a sign of the times and those of us in the Southern Plains have been use to seeing the hundreds of big white propellers decorating the western parts of our states.

To the last comment of Jr's post...Data Centers are great for high paying jobs, and yes...cheap - reliable - power and land is a must. The two most recent data center projects here have been a new Google center in NE Oklahoma, and the upcoming center that will be built by the Chickasaw Nation outside Norman, OK. Land is fairly cheap when you get out of the larger metro areas and power does cost a lot less than back east (especially Toledo). Not to mention reliable. Severe weather prone, unless it is a massive widespread ice storm...outages rarely last very long. The companies here are ranked at the top when it comes to response time and grid stability.

posted by JustaSooner on Jul 20, 2008 at 05:26:41 pm     #

Good points by JustaSooner

posted by prime3end on Jul 22, 2008 at 12:53:45 am     #

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