Act now to stop this attack on local climate action by emailing the members of the Texas House Committee on Calendars to demand the bills be kept from reaching the House floor.

One bill, HB 4313, would prohibit cities from using funds for environmental projects. This bill would even block cities from using grants and donated funds to protect the environment. Cities, counties and school districts wouldn’t be allowed to address air and water pollution, climate change, or other environmental issues. This bill is so extreme that it wouldn’t even allow cities to accept donations for such projects. Why would lawmakers want to prevent cities from accepting free money to improve the lives of their residents?

The other bill, HB 4314, would prevent local governments from including environmental criteria when making purchasing decisions. One of the most powerful ways in which cities and other local governments can act is through their purchasing power. Every contract can be an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve other environmental outcomes. For example, cities are choosing electric vehicles partly because they save money through lower operating costs and because they’re better for air pollution and climate change. There are also products like low-carbon cement that appear identical to the standard version but create less environmental harm. Choosing the more sustainable option is just smart purchasing.

HB 4313 and HB 4314 were just sent to the House Committee on Calendars, which decides what bills to forward for a full House vote. This is our chance to stop them in their tracks.

Email the House Committee on Calendars now to ask that they hold these bad bills back and let local residents be free to make decisions about what’s best for their communities.

The Texas Legislature is debating spending billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize expensive new gas and nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, Texas families and small businesses are paying higher utility bills while wasting energy through leaky homes and buildings. New power plants could increase costs on Texas families and businesses.

Electric utilities are responsible for overseeing energy efficiency programs that help homes and businesses weatherize and lower their utility bills. Right now, they are only saving about 0.25% per year – way behind states with more ambitious goals.

The energy efficiency goal for Texas has not been updated in 14 years. Texas now ranks 36th nationwide in energy efficiency savings, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

SB 1915 & HB 4374 would update Texas’s outdated energy efficiency standards by establishing an additional goal of one percent energy savings by 2032.

Third Act is joining Sierra Club in supporting SB 1915 & HB 4374 because:

• Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest and quickest way to stabilize our grid
• Energy efficiency saves Texans money
• Energy efficiency reduces air pollution
• Energy efficiency creates jobs

Your role as a constituent means you have power. Every email, letter, phone call, and visit from people like you can make a huge difference, and reshape the debate about our energy future in Texas.

Please take a moment to express your support for energy efficiency and SB 1915 & HB 4374 to your state senator and representative. It’s time they hear from people in their district, not just corporate lobbyists.

Date(s) Organization Topic RSVP Feb 26-27 Commission Shift Strengthen Oil & Gas Oversight RSVPs closed March 7 Environment Texas Plastic Pollution Lobby Day RSVP here March 18 USGBC Texas Advocacy Day RSVPs closed March 24 Sierra Club Energy, Water, Air RSVP here March 31 – April 1 Citizens Climate Lobby Climate Change RSVP here April 10 several organizations Houston Lobby Day RSVP here

Thus far, protesters have organized demonstrations at Tesla showrooms nationwide, urging consumers to reconsider their support for Tesla. These events are a means to counteract Musk’s perceived overreach. On February 15, 2025, more than a dozen demonstrators gathered outside the Tesla showroom at The Domain in North Austin to express their concerns about Elon Musk’s involvement with the federal government. Other protests have been held in Arlington and elsewhere across Texas.

Watch for events organized under hashtags like “TeslaTakeover” and “TeslaTakedown” on social media platforms, or search planned events at TeslaTakedown.com.

In addition to the showroom protests, thousands gathered at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on February 17, 2025, for a President’s Day march and rally. While this event primarily focused on President Trump’s policies, several protesters specifically called out Elon Musk and DOGE, highlighting concerns over threats to democracy.

These coordinated efforts reflect a broader pro-democracy stance, aiming to challenge what participants view as the erosion of democratic processes due to corporate influence.

ACT’s Proposed Environmental Funding Priorities:

• Clean Energy and Resilience: Advocating for allocations from the Texas Energy Fund to support sustainable energy projects and bolster infrastructure resilience.
• Energy Efficiency Programs: Requesting funding for staff dedicated to implementing and managing energy efficiency initiatives.
• Conservation Efforts: Supporting programs aimed at preserving land, water, and wildlife across Texas.
• Environmental Quality Management: Enhancing air monitoring systems, ensuring safe drinking water, and improving wastewater management processes.
• Oil and Gas Regulation: Allocating resources for the plugging of abandoned oil and gas wells and strengthening enforcement measures to prevent environmental hazards.

ACT encourages residents to contact their Senators to express support for these environmental funding priorities, emphasizing the importance of a clean and healthy Texas for current and future generations.

In related developments, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has outlined its budgetary allocations for the fiscal year 2025, emphasizing various environmental programs. Notably, the budget includes funding for air quality and monitoring grants, drinking water quality and standards grants, and the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, among others.

Subject: Support this funding for people and a healthy planet

Dear Senator,

I am writing to ask you to fund priorities that are important to me as a Texan and a
taxpayer. Please consider funding these items that will protect people and our
planet.

Energy use and conservation:

• Meet the promise of the Texas Energy Fund. Voters didn’t just approve
  money for gas plants, they also approved $1 billion for resilience projects and
  $1.8 billion for solar and battery storage for vulnerable communities.
• Fix the grid through energy efficiency. Fund 18 additional staff for the State
  Energy Conservation Office to manage and distribute $700 million in federal
  funds for rebates and incentives to help Texans save energy and lower bills.

Air, land, and water:

• $5 million for air quality monitors to track methane, hydrogen sulfide, and
  other harmful pollutants.
• Fund 115 new staff members and provide salary increases to current staff for
  TCEQ to improve air and water quality enforcement.
• $4.5 million for particulate matter monitoring in counties that could violate
  federal air quality standards in the future.
• $6 million for Texas Parks & Wildlife fisheries and wildlife programs.
• $30 million for conservation programs to support farmers and ranchers.
• $142.9 million into our drinking water and wastewater treatment revolving
  funds to bring down $500 million in federal funds.
• Sustainable solutions in the Texas Water Fund: fix leaking pipes, expand
  drinking water projects, and water reuse.

Oil and gas:

• $100 million for plugging leaking wells at the Railroad Commission of Texas
  through industry fees.
• $2.7 million for 10 full time employees at the Railroad Commission dedicated
  to investigating underground injection wells to better understand geyser
  blowouts and earthquakes.
• Use industry funds to create a $3 million inspection and enforcement tracker
  and develop an $8 million system to track fracking wastewater disposal,
  ensuring transparency and safety.

I oppose the following items — please DO NOT support any of the following:

• No more money for gas plants in the Texas Energy Fund.
• No funding for expensive, unproven nuclear technologies.
• Do not cut funding for the TCEQ’s Environmental Radiation and Perpetual
  Care Account.
• No expensive and harmful marine desalination plants that take water out or
  discharge into our bays and estuaries.
• No expensive plans to pipe water across Texas.

Thank you for considering my priorities for healthy Texans and a clean, prosperous
future.

Sincerely,

This movement, organized by the nascent The People’s Union, has gained traction on various social media platforms, with individuals and groups sharing information and encouraging others to participate.  The economic blackout is intended to highlight the influence consumers have over the economy and to push for reforms that address economic disparities. By collectively pausing spending, participants aim to send a message to large corporations and policymakers about the need for more equitable economic practices.

During the  blackout, participants are asked to not make any purchases online or in-store, particularly at big retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. In addition, you are urged to not spend money on fast food and gas. Organizers are asking the public to not use credit or debit cards for non-essential spending.

Organizers request participants only buy essentials, such as food, medicine, and emergency supplies. Participants are urged to only spend money at small, local businesses.

This, of course, is causing confusion and cruelty—reports today are showing that Medicaid payment portals have been frozen, potentially putting the healthcare of millions in limbo. Meals on Wheels deliveries have also been disrupted, and every one of us knows friends and neighbors who depend on those. Since foreign aid grants have been halted, lifesaving medicine to hold HIV infection at bay has simply been stopped—doctors and nurses have had no choice but to lay down their stethoscopes.

These steps amount to an effort to change the way power works in our government; it represents, as some scholars were saying this morning, the biggest power grab in American history, one that would sideline Congress. It is the largest step yet towards a totalitarian future. We must make our voices heard.

There are already court cases being filed and just now a federal judge blocked the funding freeze until Monday. But we need sustained people power to persuade our Senators and Representatives to speak out against this in the strongest possible terms: Please contact your congresspeople right now, and tell them to immediately protest this attack on democracy and on Americans.

A single call or email might feel like a small action, but when thousands join in, we can drown out the powerful few who seek to silence us. We must work together to defend the heart of our democracy.

In the words of Third Act advisor Rebecca Solnit, “it will be our job to make sure everyone connects the dire consequences with the cause: this administration.” Thank you for taking action and doing your part to protect the rights of millions of Americans.

TAKE ACTION NOW 

The Department of Energy is asking for public comments on its major new report on Liquified Natural Gas exports.

This analysis makes clear that LNG exports are not in the public interest, and could be a game-changer in protecting our climate and communities.

We need to flood the Department of Energy with public comments that make the conclusions of this study impossible to ignore and push them to reject new LNG export facilities.

Earlier this year, the Biden Administration paused new LNG export approvals to update outdated data and analysis. Now we need to send a resounding message: LNG exports are a climate disaster that drive up energy costs, endanger vulnerable communities, and put our national security at risk.

When you add your name to this petition, we’ll submit the comment below to the Department of Energy on your behalf. Please also add your personal comment in the “comments” box on the right.

This is a critical moment. This analysis from DOE can solidify President Biden’s climate and environmental justice legacy, make it legally difficult for a future Trump Administration to advance more LNG export projects, and provide a solid foundation for bold action now.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans—including consumer advocates, national security experts, frontline community leaders, and healthcare professionals—have already spoken out and were a critical piece of winning the initial pause on LNG export approvals.

Let’s help finish the job. Submit your comment today and demand that the DOE stand up to Big Oil and Gas.

The city of Austin owns its own electric utility, Austin Energy. The Austin City Council serves as the Board of Directors of this utility.

Austin is currently writing a plan for how they will generate, buy and sell electricity in the near future. This is the Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan. Austin Energy staff wants to promote additional utility solar, local solar, energy efficiency, demand response, some batteries, potentially microgrids, and new gas peaker plants.

Third Act Power Up Communities is working to promote everything Austin Energy wants, EXCEPT the new gas peakers.

We believe Austin can meet its electric needs and goals without adding new fossil fuel burning plants that will pollute the climate with heat-trapping gasses and the local community with air pollution. Peaker plants are less efficient and more polluting than combined cycle base load gas plants. Peakers are used mostly when energy on the grid is tight, and electricity is expensive, so owners of these plants can fire them up for fairly short periods of time to make lots of money.

Austin passed a previous plan for its electric generation that disavowed any new fossil fuel-burning plant. We are asking the Austin City Council to stick with this plan by increasing the amount of clean, renewable energy in their new plan and forgoing any new gas plant.

Here are ways you can help with this effort:

• Sign this petition to Austin City Council: https://act.citizen.org/page/74464/petition/1
• Come to the Austin Energy Oversight Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 19^th, 9 am, Austin City Council Chambers, 301 W 2^nd Street, Austin, TX. At the meeting, you can sign up and speak, hold up signs that we’ll have pre-made, make your own sign to hold up, and support our speakers. There is free parking (with validation) in the garage at City Hall where Council meets.
• If you live in Austin, email your Council Member and let them know that you hope they will support a new generation plan that does not include a new gas plant. Here’s the link: https://www.austintexas.gov/austin-city-council
• If you live in Austin, ask to meet with your city council member and tell them why you are a Third Act member and why the climate crisis is important to you. Ask that they support clean, renewable energy in the new Austin Energy resource plan. We can send a knowledgeable person to the meeting with you if you like. Most council meetings with constituents are virtual these days.

For more information contact:
Beki Halpin
Third Act Texas Power Up Communities Coordinator
Beki.halpin@gmail.com