u/Brnhtwn

Powerful Texas Republicans are asking state regulators to pause a $33 billion transmission build-out — a move that could slow efforts to bring a slew of data centers online.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Charles Schwertner called Friday for the Public Utility Commission of Texas to reject pending applications to build extra-high voltage power lines across the state.

Both officials pointed to a 15-hour Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday, where hundreds of landowners from across the state pleaded for relief from data center developments. The meeting was the latest warning sign for Republicans, who face mounting pressure to balance pro-business policies with rural land use concerns.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/texas-regulators-urged-to-halt-33b-transmission-plan/

Wild Spring Dunes is starting up their caddie program when the course reopens in September. This caddie program offers aspiring young golfers a chance to learn the game and make some spending money at the same time. Should be a great program for the junior golfers of East Texas to expand their golfing interests. 1st class practice facilities are located on the premises also.

https://www.wildspringdunes.com/dgcaddies

Texas electric co-ops have been around since the 1930s and started with loans provided from the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 that started the project up. These co-ops are still functioning here in TX and operate in 241 of the 254 TX counties. These co-ops own and maintain 340,000 miles of electric wire in the state compared to Centerpoint's 60,000 miles. It is easy to see that the TX co-ops know what needs to be done to keep electricity flowing to homes all through out all 268,000+ sq miles of Texas.

Time to break up privately owned utility business model and bring the 7 cooperative principles to all areas of Texas. These co-ops are a proven business model and these 7 cooperative principles should be available to all Texans here in 2026. In 1935 when the first electric wires were being strung for the folks that lived in rural areas, the power companies in Houston, San Antonio and Austin all proclaimed that communism will be spread down the electric lines along with the electricity. Profiteers have been around way before that Judas guy ever appeared on the scene.

Voluntary and Open Membership

Democratic Member Control

Members' Economic Participation

Autonomy and Independence

Education, Training and Information

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

Concern for Community

https://texas-ec.org/about/history/

Picarro Surveyor platforms have been in use for over 10 years now, where Centerpoint plus other utility companies use to gather your personal data under the guise of looking for possible gas leaks. The vehicles use GPS technology to pinpoint leaks, along with making sure all license plates are recorded that are in each driveway or parked on the street street. Are the same scanners used in supermarkets to scan bar codes installed in the vehicle also, that make it possible to tell how much paper cash a person has in their house? Of course Centerpoint states that it doesn't sell your information to anyone, except to their partners bound by strict confidentially agreements, Centerpoint also doesn't make any profits from rate payers either .

Data is only shared with essential operational service providers (bound by strict confidentiality agreements), legal and law enforcement authorities when mandated by law, or with third parties if the customer provides explicit, written consent

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/06/15/centerpoint-made-dollar1b-last-year-heres-how-it-profits-from-your-electric-bill/

On November 12, 2025 the President signed the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 (H.R. 5371) into law. Embedded within this legislation are amendments that fundamentally redefine “hemp” under federal law and close the regulatory gap that has permitted delta-8, delta-10, THCA, HHC, THC-O, and similar products to be marketed as legal hemp since the 2018 Farm Bill. The new provisions take effect on November 12, 2026, after which products excluded from the new hemp definition could be subject to enforcement under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

https://scarincihollenbeck.com/client-alert/federal-hemp-ban-signed-into-law-enforcement-timeline-impacts-and-strategies

Centerpoint standards for tree trimming around powerlines are there must be a 7 foot lateral clearance between their 12KV or 10 foot distance for 35KV power lines and the trees that surround them. These lines are usually at the very top of utility poles and will have feed lines to step down voltage transformers whose output run to another set of 220V power lines mounted lower on the utility pole. Below these Centerpoint house feed lines are the cable, telephone and dsl lines that all have to pay monthly rental charges to use each utility pole Centerpoint owns.

The house feed line tree trimming only has to be done by Centerpoint if there is a direct chance a tree limb falling on Centerpoint's house feed line. I have seen more then a few tree trimming jobs Centerpoint's tree trimming subsidy has produced and it sure doesn't look like that 7 foot distance from a 12KV powerline to it's nearest tree ever occurs. When tree limbs fall on powerlines during a storm, the utility company prospers. Here are some pics of powerlines and trees and easy to see that 7 foot rule policy procedure doesn't mean much, when it comes to making money. Please post up any pics that show the trees in your area need to be trimmed back from the powerlines.

Didn't know how to post pics to tree trimming post. Sorry to the mods for any inconvenience

Are people in Texas getting tired of Centerpoint garnering more profits then they are legally allowed? Disaster recovery loop profits are started by not preforming routine maintenance procedures as this will cost money to do so. That is why Centerpoint doesn't cut trees around their powerlines for years on end, even if a customer calls in telling the utility about the problem. Money is saved by not preforming the maintenance work and when a storm blows in and the trees down power lines, then Centerpoint can charge outrageous prices to string the wire back up, while also charging customers to get their tree work done at a profit.

800 million dollars on backup generators that had no working plans, or needed hardware to be setup in an emergency situation. 800 million dollars blown and this all gets thrown under the rug, business as usual. The Ohio legislative state house speaker is in jail for 20+ years for his part in bribing up the rest of the house members with 61 million of rate payers money. This was done to have the Ohio tax payers give the utility a 1.25 billion dollar loan to keep the electricity flowing to their homes. In SC you have a 14 billion dollar Nukegate scandal that the taxpayers in SC will be paying on for years. Payments by SC residents on this robbery will now last till 2056. Of course these same corrupt utility company policies couldn't be happening here in Texas. KPRC and the Houston Chronicle have tried to expose what is happening @ Centerpoint, but most people don't really care, as long as the electricity keeps flowing to their house.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2024/centerpoint-power-outages/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/former-ohio-house-speaker-sentenced-20-years-prison-leading-racketeering-conspiracy

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/death-of-a-nuke-build-summer-abandonment-leaves-ratepayers-holding-the-bag/448597/