Infrastructure protectionDebate in Texas over fossil fuel-based economic growth
Texas officials tout the state’s economic growth, which is due in part to the state’s energy sector. That same energy sector puts Texas’ economy at risk in decades to come, with scientists saying that this economic growth comes at a high cost.State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, who was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush, notes that the state is projected to be several degrees warmer and experience longer and more severe droughts. The see along portions of the state’s 367-mile Gulf Coast has already risen up to one foot in the past century.
Texas officials tout the state’s economic growth, which is due in part to the state’s energy sector. That same energy sector puts Texas’ economy at risk in decades to come, with scientists saying that this economic growth comes at a high cost. The state is projected to be several degrees warmer, and experience longer and more severe droughts. The see along portions of the state’s 367-mile Gulf Coast has already risen up to one foot in the past century. Texas’s energy sector releases more greenhouse gases than any other state in the country.
Analysts say that the state’s climate change challenges offer an opportunity for Texas to become a global leader on the isue, but state agencies fail to consider the effects of climate change when planning for the state’s future. “I call Texas a ‘state of denial,’ and that denial is becoming less tolerable as time goes along,” said John Anderson, a professor of oceanography at Rice University. “We need to think about action. And you just don’t see that happening.”
The Texas Tribune reports that many state officials are skeptical about climate change and whether humans are responsible for rising temperatures. They insist that even if scientists are correct on the causes of climate change, there is little Texas can do to reverse global warming without hurting its economy. “The governor has made his position on climate change clear — particularly that we should not be sacrificing economic opportunity for Texas families through onerous regulations based on unsettled science,” said Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Governor Rick Perry.
The removal of climate research from state planning means that agencies tasked with responding to diminishing water resources and a disappearing coastline have not reviewed comprehensive studies on the effects of climate change on future water supplies or of warming seas and melting polar ice sheets on Gulf Coast sea levels. “One of the major problems we have in Texas is that the governor, the legislature, the TCEQ, really don’t rely a lot on scientific input from the science community,” said Anderson.
State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon projects that climate change will reduce Texas’ water supply by as much as 15 percent in the coming decades, but he has yet to be invited for consultation by state agencies on matters relating to climate change projections. “Given that climate change has been politicized across the board, it doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Nielsen-Gammon, who was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush. Terry Clawson, a spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), said the agency reviews research from broad perspectives, but “we do not cede our responsibility to evaluate scientific documents to selected researchers or research institutions.” TCEQ chairman Bryan Shaw questions the reality of global warming and believes that placing limitations on greenhouse gas emissions would damage Texas’ economy. “Clearly greenhouse gases are why we are able to live on this planet,” Shaw said.
In the early 2000s, some Texas officials did attempt to curb pollution. Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, now the TCEQ, issued a report in 2002 recommending the state “expand … pollution prevention incentive programs to include CO2 and other greenhouse gases” and develop an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions. Jeff Saitas, the agency’s director said it was important for the state to reduce emissions as an insurance policy. “If it turns out global warming is caused by man, then we already are on the road to recovery,” he told the Houston Chronicle in 2002. State environmental officials initially supported Saitas’s recommendations, but the report never became a final draft.
Today, talks of climate change are politicized. “Unfortunately, climate change is associated with a liberal agenda that most Republicans are initially going to reject, just because it’s a (Democratic) political issue … and the reality is, now Republicans are running the government,” said Kip Averitt, a former Republican state senator who is now a health and environmental consultant. “Quite frankly, it was that simple and nonconstructive … You do your rhetoric, we’re going to do our rhetoric, and in the meantime, nothing gets done,” he said.
