Texas bill would ban offshore wind

SB 383 by Senator Mayes Middleton, which would direct the Public Utility Commission to prohibit the interconnection of offshore wind energy projects under certain circumstances, was heard by the Senate Business and Commerce committee on Tuesday. As I testified, offshore wind is a tremendous potential resource for Texas, with the technical potential to generate electricity equal to 166% of today’s current demand. It’s clean energy that we critically need to cut pollution and it’s very popular, with a recent Texas A&M Galveston poll finding that 71% of Texans support offshore wind in the Gulf and only 9% oppose. I urged the committee to reject the bill.