Warm Reception
There may be a mile-wide patch of open water at the North Pole, but the three commissioners of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission aren’t going to rush any efforts to address the Lone Star State’s contribution to the problem of global warming. Last week, the commissioners, all appointees of Gov. George W. Bush, approved a measure that will give the agency until December of 2001 to produce a report on global warming.
The commissioners acknowledged the need to address the issue, but said the agency had other, more pressing matters to deal with, including the worsening air quality in Houston and Dallas. But all three commissioners said they were concerned about global warming. “It’s important that we corral our resources and take an important step forward in understanding where we are and what the state’s role in this issue should be,” TNRCC chairman Robert Huston said shortly before the commission voted unanimously to approve his motion to study Texas’ contribution to the problem.
Huston’s motion requires the agency to study what other states are doing to curb global warming, determine how the agency’s current actions are reducing the release of greenhouse gases, quantify the problem in Texas, and make recommendations on how the agency’s rules can lead to further reductions.
Public Citizen, Clean Water Action, the Lone Star Sierra Club, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, and the Texas Campaign for the Environment sponsored the two petitions, which asked the TNRCC to expand the amount of data collected in its annual air emissions inventory to include emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. The groups also asked the agency to encourage reductions in greenhouse gases to levels 7% below 1990 levels.
Texas produces far more greenhouse gases than any other state. And global warming could cause huge disruptions to agriculture and industry. The current drought threatens several west Texas power plants whose lakes are drying up. Without additional rain, the plants may have to shut down within the next three months. While there’s no clear connection between the ongoing drought and global warming, environmental groups are promoting a renewable energy and conservation program that could help the state shift away from traditional energy sources and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted throughout the state.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the environmental groups’ presentation to the TNRCC was the support they received from religious leaders. Indeed, the push for action was a model of ecumenism. The environmentalists were backed by a coalition of religious groups called Texas Impact. “We have an opportunity to be part of the solution to save our land and help our people,” Robert Dees, the pastor of First Colony Christian Church in Sugar Land, told the three commissioners last week. Global warming represents “a general lack of gratitude to the generosity of our God,” he said.
While the religious groups were praying for governmental action, the environmentalists were pleasantly surprised by the TNRCC’s positive response “This is much farther than we thought we’d get,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, the Texas state director of Public Citizen. “Now we can begin to deal with global warming rather than arguing about whether there’s a problem or not.”
This article appears in September 1 • 2000.