I said, power to the people!

Somebody here is unclear on the concept.

Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas coast three years ago this week, crumpling transmission towers, toppling utility poles and leaving consumers in the dark for up to three weeks.

State regulators responded to the storm by considering new rules to strengthen Texas' electricity infrastructure in hopes of minimizing outages -- including a measure to require that all new transmission structures be made of steel or concrete.

But the Public Utility Commission of Texas moved slowly amid industry opposition, and the panel decided last month to start over.

[...]

Today, with hundreds of thousands CenterPoint Energy and Entergy Texas customers struggling through a second week without power in the wake of Hurricane Ike, some are beginning to question whether regulators should have moved more aggressively to shore up the state's electric infrastructure.

CenterPoint Energy said that as of 8 a.m. Sunday, there were 819,000 customers, or 36 percent, without power in its service territory. But 1.44 million customers, or 64 percent, in Houston and most of its surrounding suburbs have electricity, CenterPoint Energy officials said.

"We should have, and now need, to develop new standards to prevent the kinds of disruptions that people in Houston are now experiencing," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen Texas.

But PUC Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman said any upgrade must be weighed against the cost.

"At the end of the day the customers are going to have to pay for all of this," he said.

Dude. Did you miss that bit about 800,000+ people being without power for a week, many of whom will be waiting till at least Thursday for it? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, now would be a propitious time to spell out the costs and benefits of adopting those new rules, because people will never be more receptive to the idea than they are right now? For crying out loud, sometimes paying for is a good and desirable thing. At the very least, give the people the choice. What are we waiting for?

And as long as we're talking regulation, let's talk about coastal development.

Already, one week after the hurricane, some scientists, lawmakers and property owners have wondered whether an area that will likely be ravaged again is worth fixing and further developing.

"We have to protect people from themselves and certainly from developers," said Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney and coastal expert based in Houston. "Anyone who wants to buy on the West End of Galveston Island should be shown a picture of the Bolivar Peninsula after Ike."

The reality is, the coastline is changing, and changing fast, geologists say.

While trophy houses, subdivisions and hotels have sprouted along the Gulf of Mexico, rising seas and sinking land have led to the rapid erosion of the state's shoreline. By some estimates, as much as 10 feet of beachfront washes away each year.

[...]

Until recently, Texas has done little to address the erosion problem along its 367 miles of mostly wild shoreline. In April, Jerry Patterson, the state's land commissioner, proposed new restrictions on coastline construction.

The state's Open Beaches Act already prohibits houses seaward of the vegetation line, which crawls steadily landward as the beaches erode.

Patterson is asking local governments in coastal counties to adopt regulations that call for new buildings to be set back 60 times the erosion rate, as measured from the beach's vegetation line. Under the rules, if the shoreline is eroding 6 feet each year, then construction wouldn't be allowed within 360 feet.

The loudest protests have come from Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Property owners and public officials have called the proposed rules a land grab by the state that would adversely affect local economies.

Galveston County, in particular, has seen booming growth of late, especially along the island's fashionable but low-lying West End, just beyond the reach of the protective Seawall.

The county's population is projected to reach nearly 300,000 people by 2030, up from about 200,000 in 1980.

Patterson, who oversees the Texas coastline, said his intent is not to trample on property rights, but to confront what he considers a crucial problem. In addition to the eroding shoreline, he is concerned that the high cost of rebuilding highways and pipelines and restoring beaches on barrier lands will become a perpetual burden on state taxpayers.

I don't know the specifics of Commissioner Patterson's proposal. It's certainly possible I'd object to some or all of it. But I do think he's on the right track here. I have sympathy for coastal communities like Galveston that want to expand their property tax base. But as with wind insurance, I think a greater share of the burden for the risk of such development needs to be on those communities. I don't claim to know how to balance it out. But we need to have the conversation, and if not now, then when?

Now for some better news: First, SciGuy says Tropical Storm Kyle is very unlikely to come this way. Good to hear, but I reserve the right to resume freaking out as the situation warrants.

Two, the citywide curfew is about to be lifted.

The citywide curfew will remain in effect this weekend but will come to an end at 6 a.m. Monday, the Houston Police Department announced Saturday.

The curfew hours in Houston are from midnight to 6 a.m. today. Curfew violators can be fined up to $500.

One more step towards normality. And finally, congratulations to Professor Taylor for the birth of his son, Owen - see here for some background. Mazel tov, Prof!

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 21, 2008 to Hurricane Katrina