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[quote user="schlimm"] The thread relates to the topic of planning and you referred to planning in the utility industry in TX.  Perhaps you do not agree with Lasher.  However, he is not some outsider and is more of an insider than you were or are in terms of capacity planning.  Moreover, trying to silence others from commenting because they are not experts or insiders won't wash.  it should also be noted that a major reason why TX faces a power shortage was its decision to stay out of the national grid to avoid federal regulation.  That was a legitimate choice, but now the price may need to be paid.  The bigger message is that choices have consequences, often unintended and negative.  The same could be said for our past choices regarding passenger rail service.  40 years of basically status quo; catching up to have an appropriate modern network of routes under 500 miles with frequent, fast reliable service is hard and expensive to do now. [/quote] The thread relates to the California Bullet Train as being Off Target. My comment regarding long range planning in the electric utility industry was designed to create a platform to state that long range planning is a dicy challenge. That's all! It was not intended, as I have stated, to promote a discussion of electric energy in Texas. How could you possibly know what I know about planning in the electric utility industry? How could you possibly know what role I played in planning for my company?  How could you possibly know the impact of my company on ERCOT. How could you possibly know who from our company sits on the ERCOT council and what relationship I had with that person?  What do you know about Lasher?  What do you know about the the inner workings of ERCOT or the give and take between ERCOT and Texas' power generators? Texas's future power shortages are a function of a complex mix of interlocking technical, regulatory, and market variables, all acerbated by a burgeoning population that can be labelled at Texas success story. Understanding them would be extremely difficult for someone who is not involved with the industry. It is even more so for some who lives outside of Texas.  Now, back to the key point related to the California Bullet Train. The California High Speed Rail Authority laid down a long range plan for the California high speed rail system. Supporters of the plan claimed that it was an excellent roadmap. It has fallen apart before the first shovel of dirt has been turned, which has tended to be the case for most long range plans, for a variety of reasons. One of them is that long range plans don't work. The United States needs a transport framework. It must be flexible if it is to work. If it is overly detailed, as is seemingly favored by some of the folks who post to these forums, it will not work anymore than overly detailed long range planning has worked for most capital intensive industries. Within a transport framework, the market place should determine what form future transport should take. There is a role for passenger rail, but it is likely to be a minor role far into the future. The people should decided with their dollars what form of transport suits them. Not a bunch of Washington or Austin planners who are likely to get it wrong!  Now there is a novel idea! People in a democracy being given a choice.
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