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Archive for the ‘Global Warming’ Category

Help Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 |

Please join us in supporting ILoveMountains.org in their ongoing campaign to bring a halt to Mountaintop Removal (MTR) Coal Mining. There is a bill in front of the House of Representatives that would do a great deal to help stop this incredibly destructive operation.

As you probably know, MTR is one of the most ecologically destructive practices on the planet (and that’s saying a lot). It completely destroys huge sections of the Appalachian forests and mountains which are the second-most biological diverse region on the surface of planet Earth (second only to the tropical rain forests). (more…)

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Texas Oil And Gas Accountability Project: A New Watchdog for Texas’ Shale Gas Drilling Industry

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 |

This month Earthworks officially launched the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP),

a new citizens’ group that will work to ensure that Texas’ burgeoning Barnett shale gas industry operates while respecting the environment and the rights of its neighbors.

There have been, to say the (very) least, a myriad of concerns popping up in recent years related to gas drilling in the Barnett Shale, particularly with a process called hydraulic fracturing (fracking).  In a nutshell, fracking is when a fluid under very high pressrue is pushed down into a fracture in the rock to make the fracture bigger and release natural gas from the shale below. Problem is, what is in that fluid can be extremely toxic (read: cancer causing and then some) and its full contents are largely kept under wraps (take action!).  Area residents are also very concerned about the health and environmental impacts of emissions from the wells.

According to the press release,

The shale gas industry is exploding in the central Texas. In Fort Worth alone, more than 1,100 wells have been drilled within the city limits, and 100 new wells are being permitted every month. Over 9,000 wells have been drilled in surrounding counties — with 5,000 more already approved. Pipelines and wells are being located and drilled just a few feet from residences, sparking concerns by local residents for their health. Open spaces, such as the Tandy Hills, Greenbelt and other endangered, native prairie lands are turning into industrialized landscapes and drilling is encroaching upon Lake Worth, a critical drinking water supply for the city.

In addition to launching the organization, TXOGAP also released a report entitled, DRILL-RIGHT TEXAS: Best Oil & Gas Development Practices for Texas.

“DRILL-RIGHT TEXAS shows the drilling industry how to do it right: respect private property rights, clean water and clean air, wildlife, and public health,” said Sharon Wilson, the new Texas OGAP organizer. She continued, “I’m a 4th generation Texan who hoped to get rich selling gas leases. After witnessing first-hand the devastation wrought by current drilling practices, I know that unless DRILL RIGHT recommendations are followed, Texans and future Texans will be a whole lot poorer.”

For more information and updates from the ground, visit Bluedaze: Drilling Reform for Texas.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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On global warming, the science is solid

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 |

Last weekend professors and scientists from four major Texas universities joined forces to write an editorial in the Houston Chronicle defending the science of global warming from skeptics and deniers.  Check it out!

On global warming, the science is solid

In recent months, e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in the United Kingdom and errors in one of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s reports have caused a flurry of questions about the validity of climate change science.

These issues have led several states, including Texas, to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide (also known as greenhouse gases) are a threat to human health.

However, Texas’ challenge to the EPA’s endangerment finding on carbon dioxide contains very little science. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott admitted that the state did not consult any climate scientists, including the many here in the state, before putting together the challenge to the EPA. Instead, the footnotes in the document reveal that the state relied mainly on British newspaper articles to make its case.

Contrary to what one might read in newspapers, the science of climate change is strong. Our own work and the immense body of independent research conducted around the world leaves no doubt regarding the following key points: (more…)

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Industry Experts Confirm Carbon Capture and Sequestration A Pipe Dream

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2010 |

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is the fossil fuel industry’s much-touted cure-all for our global warming woes. This theoretical solution to global warming is to pump all our industrial releases of CO2 underground, cross our fingers, and hope really, really hard that it will stay there – literally sweeping the problem under the proverbial rug.

It’s a nice dream, but how realistic is it? A new report has examined the feasibility of CCS, and found it “overwhelming in both physical needs and costs” and the entire strategy for geological sequestration “profoundly non-feasible.” Titled Sequestering Carbon Dioxide in a Closed Underground Volume, the report was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering and written by M.J. Economides of the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston and C.A. Ehlig-Economides of the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: It has been pointed out to us that many of these claims made by Dr. Economides may be overinflated or just plain spurious- a retort posted by NRDC here.  Because we don’t believe in just throwing blog posts down the memory hole, we want to give this big caveat, and watch for a further discussion on CCS feasibility)

(more…)

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Week in Review

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010 |

Welcome to the debut of the Public Citizen Texas Week in Review. Every day our advocacy staff works to organize citizens and politicians in order to realize our progressive vision of a healthy environment, a sustainable economy, and a government of, by, and for the people.

This advocacy requires patience and discipline, resilience and fortitude, as our energy initiatives develop and progress across the weeks and months. You, our online readers, see this work culminate in blog posts, newspaper articles, press releases, protests, law suits, and policy proposals. What you don’t see is the day-to-day operations as our advocates set priorities, develop concrete goals, implement strategies, form coalitions, read, compile, and compose reports, and collaborate with other progressive energy activists. (more…)

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Texas Universities En Route to Green Leadership

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010 |

Longhorns and Aggies to create “green funds” that may soon be emulated statewide

Austin, TX – Progressives in America have been stunned over the last year as President Obama’s agenda has repeatedly faltered and the far-right Tea Party has emerged as a dominant force in public policy discussions. Given the failure to make progress on major national issues, perhaps it should come as no surprise that some progressives have turned to local solutions.

A shining example comes from the Lone Star State which may soon become the leading state when it comes to “green funds” on college campuses. Last week Texas’s two biggest rival colleges, Texas A&M and UT Austin, both passed student referendums in favor of raising fees to pay for environmental services on campus.

On Wednesday Longhorn students approved a $5 per semester fee hike, and on Thursday Aggie students followed suit with a $3 fee of their own. (more…)

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Climate Change: What Do You Believe?

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2010 |

Or, rather, how do you believe?

Though I’ve always thought this was fairly obvious, a recent story from Christopher Joyce at NPR has addressed how a person’s stance on global warming and climate change (or any issue really) tends to rely far more on one’s “World View” rather than on science or facts. This is based on research done by the The Cultural Cognition Project – a group of scholars who study how cultural values shape public perceptions and policy beliefs.

Regardless of the information provided, a person is more likely to credit whatever information best supports their mindset, and simply reject that which doesn’t.

It doesn’t matter whether you show them negative or positive information, they reject the information that is contrary to what they would like to believe, and they glom onto the positive information, says Don Braman, a faculty member at George Washington University and part of the Cultural Cognition Project.

It seems the pre established perspective an individual has when confronting facts and information has a far greater effect on how the person will react than the information itself. Having had many fruitless “conversations” with anthropogenic global warming (AGW) deniers I don’t find this very shocking at all. And that’s not to say that AGW deniers are the only ones who do it – everyone does it to at least some extent. The question people should always ask themselves is “Am I at least attempting to be objective in my understanding and comprehension of this information?”

Basically the reason that people react in a close-minded way to information is that the implications of it threaten their values, says Dan Kahan, a law professor at Yale University and a member of The Cultural Cognition Project.

This is why it is not shocking to me at all that anti-evolutionists are not also frequently AGW deniers, but that they are now trying to further their anti-science crusades by linking the two, and allowing anti-evolution messaging to piggy back off of anti-global warming messaging.

There is a lesson here for all of us however, while this further illuminates the true reasons behind AGW denialism, those who are fighting the propaganda and misinformation must relentlessly ensure that our information is factual, correct, and not tarnished by our own personal feelings or motives. This is probably impossible to do completely, but mindfulness alone should help a great deal.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Austinites Call on City Council for Renewed Climate Leadership

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2010 |

Last Thursday, three years after Mayor Will Wynn stated, “We’re going to lead by example“1 referring to adoption of the City’s Climate Protection Plan, Jake Stewart, former manager of Austin’s Climate Protection Program who left the program in dissatisfaction, stood before City Council to present a successful citizen petition drive.

The ongoing petition’s objective is to let Austin’s leaders know there are numerous citizens who appreciate and support the City’s hard work on climate issues, and who believe in working together to achieve as much as possible.

Jake was complimentary to those present, thanking 2007’s council for its initiative and challenging today’s council to recognize climate leadership can be leveraged to create economic stimulus for the whole community. Jake urged today’s leaders to renew council’s 2007 commitment to being “the leading the city in the nation” in climate protection and continue moving forward.

See the petition (and sign!)

1. Austin’s city council adopted its climate protection plan March 2007

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Hey Houston: The Challenges of Communicating Climate Change Event This Thursday

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2010 |

This Thursday, March 4 the Center for the Study of Environment and Society, in partnership with the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program and the U.K. Science and Innovation Team, British Consulate-Houston cordially invite you to their upcoming discussion:

The Challenges of Communicating Climate Change

with

Tim Reeder, Regional Climate Change Programme Manager, U.K. Environment Agency

Mark Maslin, Director of the Environment Institute, University College of London

David Vaughan, Science Leader, British Antarctic Survey

Moderated by

André W. Droxler, Director of the Center of the Study of Environment and Society, Rice University

Thursday, March 4, 2010

4:00 pm

Reception to Follow

Kelly International Conference Facility, Baker Institute. Rice University

To attend, please RSVP online, by fax to

713-348-5993 or by email to bipprsvp@rice.edu by *Monday, March 1*.

Please feel free to forward this email to any parties interested.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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ReEnergize Texas Aids “Green Fee” Campaigns Statewide at 7 Texas Colleges

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2010 |

Posted by Trevor Lovell

Having passed House Bill 3353 (known as the “green fee bill,” it was one of the few green bills passed this session and made into law) in the 2009 Texas Legislative Session, the student leaders that comprise the ReEnergize Texas coalition knew they had much work ahead of them. The legislation gave campuses administrators legislative approval to implement “environmental service fees” of up to $5 per semester if the student body voted for such a fee on that campus. But campaigns on individual campuses still had to be waged.

And so it is that ReEnergize Texas finds itself running or assisting green fee campaigns at 7 Texas colleges. And of all the green fund campaigns we’re involved with this semester, Texas A&M’s has proven the most challenging so far. The group has amassed over 1,600 members on its Facebook group and has the blessing of administrators, but still faces a serious challenge organized by a group know as Texas Aggie Conservatives (might be more relevant to visit the Facebook page).

In response to the sometimes vitriolic and often misleading criticisms leveled at the Aggie Green Fund, pro-green-fund group members put together this video to explain why the fund is needed and how it will benefit the campus:

[vimeo 9709786]

So make sure you visit their Facebook group and leave them a friendly comment. These students are keeping it positive and moving forward with their vision against an outspoken minority that is willfully misleading the student body about both its motives and the impacts of the green fund. They deserve a great deal of gratitude for defending sustainability on the front-lines.

In a related story, students at Rice University recently passed their own green fee of $9 per year without the help of the statewide coalition (in fact, we only heard about it a couple days before the vote). It was a huge and early victory for the green fund movement and serves as an inspiration to the 7 Texas campuses still pursuing a fee, and to the campaigns taking root in Florida this year.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Round Up

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2010 |

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for Primary Day and reminds all of you to vote if you haven’t already. Here is your Primary Day roundup.

From the Barnett Shale, TXsharon announces a new “Watchdog” for drillers and her SOS to EPA about benzene and other dangerous toxins in the Denton Creek Watershed was heard. The EPA has responded! Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS

After the latest prevarication on her date of departure from the Senate, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs opines: “Kay Bailey, won’t you please GO HOME?!”

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme shows the Texas Supreme Court flipping the finger to Texans, yet again.

Bay Area Houston highlights yet more hypocrisy from Rick Perry with his I Came and Took it! teabagging campaign.

At WhosPlayin the recent discussion has centered around equity in the Lewisville ISD. It looks like the district may be taking a big step by considering a tear-down and rebuild of the district’s oldest high school after costs for asbestos remediation and fire sprinkler installation in the old building went too high. Construction is not equity, though, and there are still issues to be addressed.

Over at McBlogger, Mayor McSleaze takes a look at the Republican HD 47 primary fight and finds it almost as entertaining as an old-fashioned pie fight.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison changes her story again about when she might leave the Senate. Off the Kuff has lost count of how many times this has happened.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has a round up of the campaign cash and who’s giving in Williamson County, Bob Perry looms large in Williamson County GOP House races.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the early voting turnout in Denton County and the GOP surge.

This week on Left of College Station, Teddy makes the case for Brazos County Democrats to vote in the Republican primary, and releases the Left of College Station Democratic primary candidate endorsements. Left of College Station also covers the debate in the Texas A&M Student Senate over the anti-discrimination policy.

Pollchecker , over at TexasKaos calls out McCain on using Texas health care as an example of “success”. And he wonders why he is not president?

Neil at Texas Liberal offered up his 2010 Democratic Primary slate. Neil also noted that Texas Liberal passed one million page views. Thanks to everybody who has read the blog.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Dallas Morning News Editorial: Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2010 |

This editorial from the Dallas Morning News is a little bit old news, responding to Governor Perry’s lawsuit against the EPA’s endangerment finding about carbon dioxide, BUT I really like the message that clean air vs. jobs is a false choice.  Because everything we would have to do to create a new clean economy, is a JOB. Windmills don’t manufacture themselves, solar panels aren’t going to get up on the roof unless someone bolts them there, and weatherstripping isn’t going to take it off without an audience protect your house from air conditioning leaks unless someone gets in there and give you an energy audit. So, better late than never: read on!

Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice

Sure, it buttresses his campaign theme, casting him as the protector of Texas jobs against employment-crippling federal environmental mandates. And Perry is right when he says Texas has a lot a stake.

But his approach is troublingly shortsighted. The lawsuit relies on thinking about the state’s past, not its future, and it falsely pits jobs against clean air. Instead of opposing the tougher air quality rules, Austin would be wise to focus instead on how best to be a leader in a less carbon-dependent economy.

Our state emits up to 35 percent of all greenhouse gases released by industrial sources in the United States, and the state’s energy sector remains a prominent generator of jobs. So it’s vital that Texas work on two tracks simultaneously – clean air and clean jobs.

Efforts to buck the shift won’t save jobs, but rather will tether Texas to 20th-century jobs in the 21st century and, thus, have considerable negative consequences on the state’s long-term economic health. Dirty air endangers health and also kills jobs, as California learned the hard way.

Texas’ legal gymnastics also are odd because the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases has already been decided. (more…)

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Introducing the Get to Know an Activist Series: Patrick Reck

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , on February 25, 2010 |

This is the launch of our Get to Know an Activist Series. Everyday the staff of Public Citizen Texas works to protect and enhance the rights of Texas citizens. We scrutinize, work to reform, and disseminate the details of local policy and energy issues to ensure that our government is of, for, and by the people. But who are the people behind the protests and press releases?

That’s why we’re introducing the Get to Know an Activist Series. Across the coming weeks, our new communications intern Patrick Reck will interview the staff at our Austin office to show the community who is defending it.

To begin, Citizen Sarah turned the camera on our burgeoning blogger Patrick to see what makes him type…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I8xaPxzmkA]

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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PUC Chairman Ignores Impending Impact of Coal Emissions

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2010 |

Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUC), made this statement regarding the “progress” Texas has been making in regards to green energy and “responsible” leadership:

Texas is the nation’s reddest state on the political map. But it produces more green energy than any blue state. The state’s top political leaders are fiercely fighting federal cap-and-trade legislation, but the state is No. 2 behind only New York when it comes to reducing the production of carbon dioxide emissions. (From the Texas Energy Report)

This is true, IF you completely ignore the plethora of new coal plants being proposed and built in Texas. Texas already has 17 coal plants (more than any other state), and there are 12 or 13 more being proposed or built (also more than any other state – by far). Current reductions in greenhouse gases include improved building codes, energy efficiency programs, replacement of pilot lights, air conditioning retrofitting, and wind farms. The reduction of greenhouse gases from all these amounts to about 16 million tons a year. If you add in the wind farms that still need transmission lines built to access their power you get around 43 million tons a year. This sounds great until you realize that the recent coal plant proposals would add 77 million tons of CO2 to our atmosphere every year – far more than offsetting these reductions.

While reductions in greenhouse gasses should, of course, be applauded, it is misleading for Chairman Smitherman to take credit for Texas reducing greenhouse gas emissions when he knows there are so many coal plants looming on the horizon that will completely overwhelm these significant reductions. If Texas were really serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions we would not allow anymore unnecessary coal plants to be built, and start replacing the old ones we have with renewable forms of power generation. This would do far more than anything to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and the public health and environmental health benefits from getting off a fossil-fuel based electric system would far outweigh the cost.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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SNOWPOCALYPSE Strikes Austin, Texas

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2010 |

Holy *%$&! its snowing in Austin, Texas! What do I do? Can I still drive? Do I have to go to work? Should I put on big boots and go buy as much bottled water and creamed corn as I can fit into a stolen borrowed shopping cart? Or just jump on the global warming denier train ASAP?

Terrified victims of SNOWMAGGEDON tremble in fear outside the Public Citizen office

That’s right folks, those fluffy flaky beauties may be lovely to our amazed southern eyes, but to climate deniers they are cold hard proof that global warming is fake. Because its cold outside, so how can the globe possibly be warming?!?! Hah! “Fact” your way out of that truthiness!

***Sigh*** Some folks have a lot of fun busting up climate deniers, but I just don’t have the stomach for it. Far from laughing in glee at those fools who can’t tell the difference between “weather” and “climate”, it just makes me sad. So I’ll let the president do my dirty work for me.  Check out this video of Obama addressing the crowd at a town hall meeting in Nevada.  He actually does  a really good job of explaining the science of “global boiling”, as Brad Johnson at the Wonk Room notes:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPwHnU5ObPY]

…we just got five feet of snow in Washington and so everybody’s like-a lot of the people who are opponents of climate change, they say, “See, look at that. There’s all this snow on the ground, you know, this doesn’t mean anything.” I want to just be clear that the science of climate change doesn’t mean that every place is getting warmer. It means the planet as a whole is getting warmer. But what it may mean is, for example, Vancouver which supposed to be getting snow during the Olympics, suddenly is at 55 degrees and Dallas suddenly is getting seven inches of snow. The idea is that as the planet as a whole gets warmer, you start seeing changing weather patterns and that creates more violent storm systems, more unpredictable weather. So any single place might end up being warmer. Another place might end up being a little bit cooler. There might end up being more precipitation in the air…

So there you have it, folks. Global warming doesn’t mean it is simply getting hotter. It doesn’t mean there will never be snow again. It means that global temperatures overall are going up, and that’s going to make weather all over the place get a little wonky.  Like stronger hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, extreme drought in south Texas, or even snow right here in Austin.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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