Unearthed video shows Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico leading a student campaign against the Fayette Power Project, the coal fired facility that remains Austin's largest single power plant. The plant currently supplies about 10 percent of the city's electricity.

Talarico appeared as one of three speakers at an October 2009 press conference called “Rise Up Against Coal.”

Introducing himself as “Jimmy Talarico,” the University of Texas student government representative urged Austin leaders to abandon the plant and embrace solar energy.

Talarico promoted a student government resolution that endorsed divestment from the facility.

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“It was a great success for environmentalists on campus … and also students who want to pay less with their energy bills and who want a sustainable economy and a Green Collar Economy when they come out of college,” he said.

After the event, Talarico and fellow activists planned to enter Austin City Hall and lobby officials directly.

Their proposed clean energy portfolio was designed to phase out fossil fuels, a fashionable demand among campus activists even when reliable power had to pay the price.

His reference to a “Green Collar Economy” apparently pointed to Democratic operative Van Jones and his 2008 book bearing that title.

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Jones promoted a sweeping transition away from what he called a pollution based economy and toward a government directed green economy.

Former Vice President Al Gore praised the book for presenting “the best solutions for the survivability of our planet.”

The project helped preview the politics later packaged by Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as the Green New Deal, a proposal experts estimated could cost $93 trillion.

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The footage creates an inconvenient contrast with the image Talarico now presents while campaigning statewide in energy rich Texas.

His campaign website celebrates Texas as “the energy leader of the world” and promises to “add to Texas' hundreds of thousands of oil, gas, wind, and solar jobs.”

Talarico also released a New American Dream economic platform calling for cooperation with oil and gas producers through a broad energy strategy.

That is quite a transformation from the student activist lobbying Austin officials to pull out of a major coal facility.

His record in the Texas Legislature suggests the old climate agenda never disappeared entirely.

In March 2021, Talarico proposed requiring public school students to receive instruction about climate change caused by human activity, saying the effort could create another generation of climate activists.

That same month, he introduced the Texas Climate Action Act.

The proposal would have required Texas to reduce carbon emissions by half before 2030 and by 90 percent before 2050, targets closely resembling those pushed through the Green New Deal.

Talarico also joined a Youth Climate Strike at the Texas Capitol in September 2019.

Students left class and marched as part of the Fridays For Future movement associated with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

“So proud to stand with our young people during their Youth Climate Strike at the Texas Capitol,” Talarico wrote on Facebook.

“Students around the world are walking out of school to save our planet. It's time for the grown ups to follow their lead. #ClimateStrike.”

Campaign spokesman J.T. Ennis dismissed the newly surfaced footage as a distraction from 17 years ago, but he did not directly explain Talarico's present position on coal power.

Ennis instead emphasized the industry's importance to Texas schools, employment, and the broader state economy.

The Fayette Power Project generates enough electricity to serve roughly 900,000 homes.

Austin Energy owns half of the facility, uses about one third of its output, and sells the remaining electricity to customers elsewhere in Texas.

Austin officials have repeatedly promised to close their portion of the plant.

A 2014 settlement with the Sierra Club targeted closure by 2022, a 2016 resolution moved the target to 2023, and the City Council renewed the pledge in 2020 through its net zero plans.

Those promises collided with economic reality, and the plant remains fully operational.

Energy economist Ed Hirs warned that abandoning the facility could leave Austin customers paying more, telling the Texas Tribune, “If Austin sold out of that coal plant, it might not be able to replace that energy with anything less expensive.”

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