Farmers cashing in on new crop: renewable energy

Rep. David Swinford
Austin Amercian Statesman
April 6, 2005

AUSTIN - Texas farmers and ranchers should take notice. The Legislature is currently making choices about Texas' energy future that could help them cash in on a new crop - clean, renewable energy.

Farmers and ranchers have long been the backbone of our society.

Indeed, organized agriculture is what allowed civilization to begin in the first place.

Today, they grow the food we put on the kitchen table, employ approximately one of every seven working Texans, and generate billions of dollars for our economy.

But times are becoming increasingly tough for them. Crop prices are low. Water supplies are diminishing. The high cost of natural gas has led to greater production costs. And crop losses from severe weather and drought may get worse with global climate change.

Promisingly, though, the Legislature is exploring an expanded investment in Texas' homegrown resources and technological know-how that could help revitalize our farm communities, and clear the air to boot.

In 1999, then-Gov. George W. Bush signed into law one of the nation's first, and most successful, renewable energy standards. The law required electric utilities to purchase roughly 3 percent of their energy supply from clean, renewable sources by 2009. The requirement has been a huge success, and wind turbines have been popping up all over West Texas. And farmers and ranchers have been major beneficiaries. It's estimated that wind companies paid more than $2.5 million in royalties to landowners in 2002 alone.

But now neighboring states are offering better incentives that may attract further development there first, costing Texas billions in investment. It's clear that it is time to take the next step to develop this multibillion-dollar industry.

Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and I have proposed taking the next logical step for clean energy by requiring utilities to get approximately 10,000 megawatts of their energy from renewable sources by 2015. This would equal roughly 9 percent of our state's energy usage in that year and would power approximately 2.7 million homes. This legislation would be a major shot in the arm for Texas' economy, particularly for rural communities.

And such a standard would not only benefit just windy West Texas. The bill includes a specific set-aside for solar and farm-based renewables, so farmers statewide stand to benefit. Waste from crops and lumber processing including rice, cotton boll stems, sugar cane stalks, sawdust and wood chips can be turned into clean, biomass energy. Feedlot operations could solve their manure disposal problems, reduce odors and generate power with methane recovery technologies.

Even Willie Nelson has gotten into the game. His new "Bio-Willie," a blend of diesel and a fuel made mostly from soybeans, is powering truckers' rigs with a home-grown, cleaner alternative.

According to the State Energy Conservation Office, if just half of the available biomass wastes were utilized for electricity productions, farmers could supply 10 percent of the state's needs. All told, a 10,000-megawatt standard would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue to farmers, ranchers and rural landowners for producing biomass energy and from wind power land leases.

With an expected increase in demand for electricity and with the retirement of some older power plants, it's estimated we'll need an additional 38,000 megawatts of new energy production by 2015. Clean, renewable energy clearly should be a significant part of that mix.

New renewable energy generation also would create much-needed competition with natural gas power plants, leading to reduced gas demand and lower natural gas and electricity prices.

As renewable energy uses far less water than coal or nuclear power plants, the increased investment also would help protect the precious water supplies we desperately need to grow our crops into the future. Less reliance on these dirty energy sources also would mean less smog and global warming pollution. And at a time when we're struggling to find ways to fund our schools, property taxes on the industry generate an estimated $10 million for every 1,000 megawatts of wind power for local school districts.

Texas has been called the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy because of our enormous potential to produce and export our wind, solar and biomass resources. In fact, according to the Texas Public Interest Research Group, we have the technical potential to produce more than 1,696 billion kilowatt hours from renewable energy - enough to power 169 million homes.

It's time for Texas to significantly tap into these resources and help power our economy with a clean, safe technology.

Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, was elected to the Texas Legislature in 1991. He has served as chairman of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee and currently serves as chairman of the State Affairs Committee.

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