Supply Authentic NFL Jerseys Keep an open mind as we address that question.
Business and industry putters along with or without politicians — through them or around them if need be. In the midst of industrial growth, Texas managed to reduce its emissions 3.4 percent, and that's a good thing. Texas also emitted more than double the carbon dioxide of any other state. That's not so good.
First let's consider this matter of lists and ranks. Often they overlook that Texas happens to be second-largest in population and acreage. If Texas ranks in the top three of any list affected by size and population, big whoop. Generally we should be more concerned about those thank-God-for-Mississippi lists — the ones not mitigated by sheer size that show us pathetically near the bottom in per-student spending or percentage of medically insured.
Woo hoo! We're No. 1 again! Texas still leads the nation in carbon dioxide emissions, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report released last week.
No. 1 in emissions: The downside of Texas prosperity
But there's no getting around that the EPA emissions report is a measure of Texas' prosperity.
It's tempting for us,Authentic Jerseys From China, especially,Wholesale China Jerseys, to spin some blame at Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott for suing the EPA over its authority to regulate greenhouse gases. We have expressed our opposition to their war with the EPA. But we always like to point out that Texas' economy is booming despite rather than because of Perry's policies. So it's only fair to add that we don't really believe he and Abbott add to Texas' greenhouse emissions — jokes about them being gas bags aside.
The EPA says emissions are down 4.5 percent nationwide and that a shift to natural gas from coal fuel has a lot to do with it. The Eagle Ford Shale is a major driver of this shift. Whole industries are jumping into natural gas as a cheap, reliable, cleaner fuel source. The Corpus Christi area is benefiting considerably from this shift with new factories in the works,Marshon Lattimore Jersey, including the Chinese pipe plant in Gregory, two Italian plastics plants and an Austrian iron processor.
Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Oct. 27, 2012.
But getting it out of the ground, transporting it, refining it and burning it causes emissions. Texas' emissions-causing efforts in the oilfields contribute to emissions reductions elsewhere where gas is being used instead of coal.
It should be pointed out that the EPA drew its conclusions from more than 8,Cheap NFL Jerseys,000 so-called stationary sources — facilities it monitors and that are required to report emissions. This isn't about how much Texans drive or use lawn mowers. Corpus Christi refineries are among those facilities. Petroleum products have to be refined somewhere. Because they're refined here, we get the associated emissions but also the high-paying jobs.
But we're also No. 1 in wind energy production,Billy Price Jersey, already. The sight of twisting turbines in South Texas is as familiar as drilling rigs these days.
The greenhouse gas list is an occasion for all sorts of spin. The Associated Press quoted an environmental lobbying group spokesman who mentioned cataclysmic weather events often associated with global warming that are "only going to get worse as the climate warms." He urged greater reliance on renewable energy sources,Wholesale Stitched NFL Jerseys, saying, "We're No. 1 in total potential."
Second, let's remind ourselves that Texas is a leader in job-creating heavy industry and especially energy production. Energy sources that emit greenhouse gases are mined and refined here and exported from here. And no car-owning New Englander in his or her right mind should want us to stop.
Actually, it's no reason to celebrate. Or is it? Keep an open mind as we address that question. |
