Student leader James Talarico pushes Austin to drop coal plant supplying 10% power

During a 2009 protest, Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, then a University of Texas at Austin student-government representative, called for Austin to withdraw its stake in the Fayette Power Project, a coal plant that delivers roughly 10 percent of the city’s electricity. He cited a student-government resolution he helped pass and pledged to lobby city leaders for a "clean energy portfolio" that would phase out fossil fuels in favor of solar.

The Fayette plant, co-owned by Austin Energy, remains the city’s biggest power source, powering an estimated 900,000 homes. Although Austin reached a 2014 settlement with the Sierra Club and passed resolutions in 2016 and 2020 to close the plant, none have been implemented. Critics note that divesting could raise costs for consumers, while Talarico’s current campaign emphasizes an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy that supports oil, gas, wind, and solar jobs. His past climate-focused legislation includes bills on climate education and emissions cuts mirroring the Green New Deal.