Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Texas will miss out on the economic benefits of the pending “clean energy” technology boom if it doesn’t begin to take action in next year’s legislative session, according to a report scheduled for release today by a coalition of business, environmental and policy groups.

The report by The Catalyst Project says Texas already has many of the tools needed to become a leading player in the development of the next generation of energy technology, including natural resources, energy industry expertise, business-friendly environment and a large base of potential customers.

But it doesn’t have a cohesive strategy for attracting companies, just a patchwork of incentives and little coordination, according to Colin Rowan, an Austin public relations executive who wrote the report after interviewing nearly two dozen industry and policy experts. The report recommends the state refocus existing state incentive programs—the Emerging Technology Fund and Texas Enterprise Fund — toward “clean tech” businesses, create a statewide “energy czar,” update renewable energy mandates and provide tax incentives for residential and commercial solar power.

“If we have a serious debate this session, it will show the rest of the country Texas is serious about leading the industry,” Rowan said.

The report was funded largely by Rowan’s firm, with some money from Environmental Defense, his former employer.

The report cited wind power as an area in which Texas has shown success and shortcomings in developing new energy businesses.

When the state’s power markets were deregulated starting in the late 1990s, Texas mandated that a certain percentage of power come from renewable sources. This gave wind power developers an incentive to build, turning Texas into the nation’s largest wind power generator. Dozens of wind farms were built, mainly in West Texas, where they helped breathe new life into rural communities.

Yet Colorado, California, Iowa and other states managed to attract wind turbine manufacturers and the related jobs through aggressive recruiting efforts.

The report said many elected officials are taking an alarmist stance against what many expect will be the single biggest driver of green energy technology — federal regulation of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

An energy plan by the Governor’s Competitiveness Council says that the state should fight carbon emissions legislation because it could threaten the state’s energy future.

Rowan and Isaac Barchas, director of the Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas in Austin, said such talk discourages investors.

“We don’t have to embrace Al Gore,” Barchas said, referring to the former vice president’s dire climate change warnings. “But just speaking a language that resonates with the economic opportunity presented by the clean energy revolution would go a long way.”

Ari Swiller, a partner at Los Angeles-based Renewable Resources Group, says in the report that if Texas tried to leverage its existing energy expertise to take advantage of the new energy economy, “… the competition would quiver.”

“People like me in California look at Texas and wonder when it will wake up and realize how easily it could win this race,” Swiller said.