a letter to my Texas Representative

To Texas Representative Murr.

Some thoughts:
I note that you're on the Transportation Committee.
While I understand that Public transportation is not all that popular in Texas, these days, I'd be remiss if I didn't flog it, any way.
When a place like Croatia has a better Public Rail system than us, I reckon we should be ashamed.
I'd like the Freedom to take the train.
Rail takes less energy, for moving both goods and people.
There is also the growing issue of Traffic...so many vehicles with one or two folks in them, making it increasingly harrowing to get from point a to point b.
Even way out here.
I recognise the challenges in the way of any comprehensive Rail plan, but I think it's worth looking in to.

I also note that you're on the Subcommittee on Long Term Infrastructure.
There are two things I think about, in that regard.
1. The Grid. It is my understanding that we lose around 40% of the electricity generated in Transmission...it just “evaporates” into the air.
This is one of the major drawbacks of having an overcentralised Power Generation...all those wires!
With current technology, we could build a better Grid...distributed generation, along the lines of how the internet is constructed.
The way we do it, now looks like Hydraulic Despotism, to me.
I understand that there are very powerful folks who like it just the way it is, but their vested interest should not curtail at least looking at alternatives.
Instead of a few giant power plants and nuclear facilities and gigantic wind farms...we could have 10 million small, individual, or even neighborhood-level
power sources, all inter-tied. This would be more robust and sensible than the current paradigm...a tree limb in one place would be less likely to cause outages in another. Democratise Electricity.
2. I have long been an evangelist for Sewer Gas,lol.
Every living thing is a potential source of energy.
Methane=”natural gas”.
From landfills to municipal sewer systems to septic tanks to feedlots, we allow how many btu's of energy to just float up into the atmosphere?
I'm planning on building my own methane digester, as proof of concept...and because I'm rather hard-headed.
Instead of relying only on Fossil Methane, we should look into the Fresh Kind.
This, too, will have many powerful interests rallying against it...Big Oil and Gas will crow that it's nasty and unworkable.
But the Fossil Variety will not last forever: the Fresh Kind will last as long as there are creatures with stomachs.

Just a few thoughts from a Liberal Constituent.

Ego sum, Intrepidus,
Josef