As a non-voter, ad nauseam(1), I was astonished to listen to a News-8 piece this morning on the elections of the Railroad Commission of Texas.

While its been encouraging to read/listen to the discussions on Prop 2., it seems to me that there should also have been some useful pointers to this VERY IMPORTANT commission. Maybe as a newcomer maybe I’m just the only one that didn’t know?

As you show up to vote, please take time to familiarize yourself with the relevant positions wrt this board. They literally hold some of the most important controls for energy pricing and production for the future, especially in wind, solar and gas.

I know that many may opposed to wind and solar farms for their looks and their environmental impact, they are likely to happen any way. Yesterday the UK officially opened one of the biggest wind farms off the east coast of England to become the world’s biggest offshore wind generator.

Wind farms need investment to build. They also need investment to connect to the grid, however, given proper design and build they are not difficult or expensive to run and maintain. The same can be said for solar power.

Texas has both the size and conditions to run large wind and solar farms, the question is who should end up owning these? Large multi-nationals, billionaires or state or local cooperatives.

Here are three resources to help you get started:

• News8 coverage
• Railroad Commission of Texas web site
• Wikipedia entry for the Railroad Commission of Texas

(1) Despite paying a bunch of money in income tax, and ever increasing property tax(although I guess not next year because of the drop in the property market, as a non-citizen I can’t vote. I would otherwise, do you have any reason not to vote?