On Being Young and Crazy

By Paul Robbins / The Rag Blog / January 9,2012

AUSTIN — On Friday, Jan. 6, Austin officially commissioned its new 30 Megawatt Solar plant. It is one of the largest solar installations in the U.S. Austin and the environmental community in particular should be proud of this accomplishment.

Located near the small town of Webberville at the eastern edge of Travis County, the “solar farm” consists of 127,780 photovoltaic panels mounted on tracking axes covering a site of 380 acres. It will provide electricity equal to that used in 5500 average Austin homes. Ironically the site, owned by Austin Energy, the City’s municipal public utility, was originally purchased in 1984 for a coal plant that was never built.

They say that victory has 1,000 parents, but defeat is an orphan. Many people will claim credit for this achievement. Many of them deserve it. However, the people left out of the celebration were the ones who had the original idea: the anti-nuclear activists of the 1970s.

We were mostly 20- and 30-somethings with the sun in our eyes, activists who wanted an alternative to a future of dangerous nuclear and coal plants. To the power structure of that generation, we were “crazy.” We were sometimes ignored, other times ridiculed, occasionally even blacklisted or persecuted.

Our attempts to keep Austin out of the South Texas Nuclear Project — ultimately unsuccessful when the City power structure stabbed student voters in the back — were both epic struggles and advanced courses in political organizing.

And last Friday we won. Of about 200 people there, including all manner of press, I was the only member of the “original cast.” It was a sunny winter day and people seemed festive. There were various props, including a yellow ribbon to cut and an official “light switch” to turn on, powering a (compact fluorescent) bulb.

The utility even had a special ride for attendees, who could don hardhats and safety harnesses to get an aerial view of the field from the bucket of a “cherry picker” electric line maintenance truck. We had to sign a release form.

I am attaching a few photos, including one of me in a hardhat next to Council aide Shannon Halley, who accompanied me in the bucket.

The sun in my eyes on this occasion felt very good indeed!

[Paul Robbins is an environmental activist and consumer advocate based in Austin.]

The Rag Blog