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Comment by bigyikes | Hacker News Reader

Also interesting to see that Texas accounts for nearly 10% of the country’s renewable output, with Illinois at 7% and California at 6%.

Texas has a lot of oil fields and windmills.

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And at the same time the Texas state government is actively trying to sabotage the industry: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-...

Coming from the UK, where also media is of course always going to be biased, I have to say honestly, I read that, and one of its linked articles, and its phrasing seems so biased that I don't feel like I'm getting a neutral (or at least balanced) take. How can one hope to just understand the facts of a situation when even senior politicians such as governers are just making such pot-shotty comments? It appears to be written to leave an emotional impression, rather than information, in the reader's mind.

Politics in the US long ago transitioned away from reasoned arguments backed with data. The polarization of parties has created a gulf too wide to scaffold an argument across. The emotional impression is the point, but it's not for you. It's for the people who already prescribe to this dogma. Reading that gets them excited and engaged. Ready to go vote for their "tell it like it is" political party.

Yeah it’s tradition for Texas state legislators to drop by and dump a bunch of crazy shit. I’m seeing 12,000 bills filed this past regular session. The next session is in 2025.

   > I’m seeing 12,000 bills filed this past regular session.

i'm not familiar with the situation there but is that an exaggeration?

Slightly. 8,000 bills and 11,700 resolutions (things like naming January 23 as the Texas State Lawyer Appreciation Day or something). Of these 1,222 bills and 4,028 resolutions passed.

That's for two years though - the Texas Legislature meets every other year. Also remember that Texas has an economy roughly the size of Canada's, so in some senses that's like the output of a national legislature.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/texas-lege-update-w...

Yeah its very slanted. Texas Monthly is nothing close to balanced. Its from Austin Texas.

Texas has very roughly as much coast line as florida. Daily heating cycle of the land creates a pretty good heat pump to blow wind onshore in the afternoon . In Corpus Christi and Galveston they call it the 1:30 at 1:30pm which indicates the wind direction clocking that way in the early afternoon. Couple that with very low land value best served by feeding cows on it, makes Texas a great wind producer, and higher than average sunny days makes solar very easy.

> Texas has very roughly as much coast line as florida.

Sorry, but no.

Florida (Method 1) 1,350 mi (Method 2) 8,436 mi

Texas (Method 1) 367 mi (Method 2) 3,359 mi

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Much of the land in Texas is privately owned so you don't have many of the same issues in other states where there are arguments over where to build. It's a very easy decision for land owners in Texas because they get paid monthly per tower in operation. If you drive around Abilene and a little out southwest of there you'll see red lights at night everywhere and you can just count the cash-flow.

Oil is Texas "T", but money is always the real motivator.

and sun, and it's BIG

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