President Obama was right to emphasize the job creation potential and economic stakes for America's leadership on global warming solutions in his State of the Union address this week.

Strategic use of federal stimulus monies is one of the best ways to jump-start the nation's transition to a clean energy economy. Planned investments in high speed rail, new energy efficiency technologies, clean energy start-ups and entrepreneurs can deliver the right combination of near term and longer range benefits.

By re-asserting the imperative for U.S. action and leadership on global warming, the President signaled the urgency and importance of Senate action to complete work on comprehensive energy and global warming legislation begun by the House.

Last year's elections to the board of the Pedernales Electric Co-op resulted in a majority committed to ending the days of scandal that have plagued the PEC for so long. The PEC board is now considering bringing a Bill of Rights before the members for approval during this year's board elections.

City Public Services (the City of San Antonio's electric utility) and New Jersey based NRG are currently seeking investors for two new nuclear reactors they hope to build at the South Texas Project site in Bay City, Texas. They are also seeking commitments from communities like yours to purchase the power these reactors would generate.

Recent revelations leave no doubt that top officials at the City Public Services deliberately misled the public and the San Antonio City Council about the true cost of nuclear power. Clean Water Action and our allies have issued warnings for several months now that the $13 billion price tag for the nuclear reactors proposed for South Texas was too low.

CPS has now admitted that this figure is $4 billion too low! Top staff
at CPS and chair of its Board have now resigned in disgrace.

We have never had a better chance of fixing the Clean Water Act and delivering results on the Clean Water issues that matter the most. Help us seize the moment and change the course of our nation's clean water future.

By continuing your support with a generous year-end gift, you are helping to advance Clean Water Action's vision for water protection in the 21st Century that will be realized by:

Austin Energy, our city's award-winning electricity provider, has prepared a new ten-year plan on where we will get our energy from. This plan will increase Austin's commitment to clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency, help keep electric bills in check, and cut back on pollution from the coal-burning Fayette Power Plant.

Earlier this year, many of you signed a postcard from Clean Water Action in support of clean energy and calling on leaders of New Braunfels to buy more renewable energy and develop energy efficiency programs that lower electric bills and reduce water use.

The good news is that New Braunfels Utilities has new energy efficiency programs, like a high efficiency air condition and heat pump rebate. The bad news is that it might sign a nuclear power contract with San Antonio.

Don't get duped.

Tell Austin's Mayor And City Council To Stop the Mistake on the Lake!

WTP4 won't make new water, just the capacity to take more water from Lake Travis. Tell Mayor Leffingwell and the City Council to stop the Mistake on The Lake

Thanks in part to letters and postcards from Clean Water Action members like you, the City of Austin is improving its water conservation programs substantially. It is considering setting a goal of lowering per capita levels of water consumption from its current 170 gallons to 140 gallons per capita per day by 2020, the level recommended by the Texas Water Development Board. This is what we have been asking them to do, and that's the good news.

The bad news is, a slim majority on the city council still supports building a new drinking water treatment plant, Water Treatment Plant 4 (WTP4), on the shores of Lake Travis. If built, WTP4 will cost over $500 million--and twice as much with interest payments! Household water rates could increase by 15% in order to pay for it.

Building a new treatment plant does not 'make' new water but only creates the capacity to take more water from Lake Travis -- a lake which reached dangerously low levels during the recent drought. Future droughts are very likely. Tell Mayor Leffingwell and the City Council to oppose WTP4 and stop the mistake on the lake now.

$17 billion for unsafe, dirty energy? Tell your Mayor and City Council to pull the plug on nuclear energy!

Recent revelations leave no doubt that top officials at the City of San Antonio's electric utility, City Public Services, deliberately misled the public and the city council about the true cost of nuclear power.

AUSTIN, Texas - A new study by Clean Water Fund warns that Central Texas is likely to experience serious long-term water shortages as population continues to increase and the effect of drought and climate change make themselves felt. The report urges Central Texas communities to amplify their efforts to conserve water. The report, called "The Coming Crisis: Water Availability and Municipal Conservation Efforts in Central Texas," outlines the challenges facing water security from population growth, drought and climate change, and surveys the limited conservation steps that cities in Williamson County, Travis County and Hays County have undertaken to date.

Did you know the City of Georgetown has a plan to get 30% of its power from nuclear energy by 2030? It is currently negotiating with CPS Energy of San Antonio to buy power from two proposed nuclear reactors in South Texas.

Despite the claims from CPS Energy and the nuclear industry, nuclear power has inherent flaws that make it a dangerous and risky source of energy for Georgetown. Here are just a few.

• Cost: The cost of building new nuclear reactors is extremely expensive. San Antonio will have to spend at least $5.2 billion to build two new reactors with its partner, New Jersey-based NRG. The projected cost has already doubled since the project was first announced in 2007. To finance the project, CPS wants to sell half of its share to smaller utilities like Georgetown Utility System. That way, they would shed some of the huge financial risk that comes with such a massive project onto Georgetown ratepayers.