State Capital HIGHLIGHTS

State Capital

Record sea temps could spur more hurricanes Forecasters for the National Weather Service are anticipating a more active hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean surface temperatures, the Texas Tribune reported.

Hurricane season runs through the end of November. The Climate Prediction Center now predicts six to 11 hurricanes this season in the Atlantic Ocean, with as many as five of those being major hurricanes. The new projection is considerably higher than the one released in May just before hurricane season commenced.

Bradley Brokamp, an NWS meteorologist in Galveston, said the higher prediction is the result of the higher sea surface temperatures.

“The name of the game this season seems to be the heat because it’s been quite exceptional,” Brokamp told the Tribune.

Another NWS meteorologist, Jeff Lutze, based in Corpus Christi, said the higher probability of Atlantic hurricanes increases the likelihood of a storm striking Southeast Texas.

“ The big question mark is whether or not we’ll get the upper air pattern to allow the storms to get this far into the Gulf of Mexico,” Lutz said. Some of the most damaging hurricanes to hit Texas in recent years came in August or September.

Federal grand jury investigating Paxton

The Austin American-Statesman reported last week that federal prosecutors have seated a grand jury in San Antonio and called witnesses close to suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify. Paxton’s attorney has already confirmed that there is an active federal investigation of his client.

While the Justice Department has declined to comment, the secret proceedings come a few weeks before Paxton is set to stand trial for impeachment in the Texas Senate on bribery allegations involving Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was indicted on unrelated federal charges in May for mortgage fraud.

Paxton has been under indictment for securities fraud since 2015, with a trial set in Houston for February 2024. He was suspended without pay after the Texas House overwhelmingly passed 20 articles of impeachment in late May.

Wildfire danger continues to increase

Continued hot, dry weather has increased the number of wildfires, prompting the Texas A&M Forest Service to raise the State Wildfire Preparedness to Level 4, the second- highest level, in order to ensure resources are available to fight first breaking out across the state.

“Areas with high potential for wildfires include the Cross Timbers, Rolling Plains, Eastern/Western Hill Country where oak/juniper fuel is present and for the Western Pineywoods, as well as Central and Southeast Texas where pine fuel is present,” the service said.

As of Sunday, there were seven active fires, the largest being the Hawkeye Fire in Wichita County, consisting of 2,150 acres, which was 50% contained, and the Burnet 109 Fire, also in Wichita County, consisting of 2,126 acres, which was 75% contained.

Gov. Greg Abbott last Friday declared a wildfire disaster declaration in nearly 200 Texas counties, while burn bans are now in place in 181 counties.

July was hotter and drier than norm for most of the state, according to Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board, with 49% of the state now in drought, up 25 percentage points since the end of June.

Abbott signs largest property tax cut in state history Abbott last week ceremonially signed legislation that — if voters approve it in November as expected — will provide what he is calling the largest property tax cut in Texas history. The $18 billion reduction raises the homestead exemption to $100,000 and provides other tax-reduction measures.

Voters will decide its fate as one of 14 proposed constitutional amendments in November. The measure is widely expected to pass, as do most measures to reduce taxes when placed on the ballot.

“As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas—and now that includes property tax relief,” House Speaker Phelan said at the ceremony.

ERCOT grid holds up despite record temperatures

The state’s electric grid, which supplies electricity to 90% of the state and is run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, has thus far withstood record demand brought on by the summer heat. An analysis by the Dallas Morning News points to two factors for the grid’s ability to meet that demand: planning and renewable energy.

“The secret to ERCOT’s success has been astonishingly high levels of performance to date by the wind and solar … and by the thermal fleet,” Alison Silverstein, an electric system reliability consultant and researcher, told the News. The latter refers to the state’s gas, coal and nuclear power plants.

In preparing for demand, ERCOT made conservative estimates of how much energy each power plant could generate and accounted for worst-case scenarios in preparing for summer.

Chronic Wasting Disease prompts new TPWD rules The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued new rules limiting movement and testing restrictions for white-tailed deer in deer breeding facilities after receiving confirmation of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in nine deer breeding facilities in seven counties this year.

As the Texas Standard reported, CWD threatens both the deer and the state’s hunting economy. White-tailed deer hunting generates more than $4 billion of economic activity in the state each year. The new rules aim to manage the spread of the disease.

MCWD is a fatal neurological disease found in deer, elk, moose and other members of the deer family. It progresses slowly and may not produce visible signs for several years.

“Since 2021, we have seen an increase in CWD detections from breeder deer at an unprecedented rate,” said John Silovsky, Wildlife Division Director for TPWD. “It’s our hope that these emergency rules will strengthen our surveillance and reduce the number of CWD positive detections across the state.”