Texas Is No. 1 Carbon Polluter In U.S.

Everything's Bigger In Texas, Including Vehicles, Which Are Leaving A Big Carbon Footprint

(AP)  Everything's big in Texas - big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state's big carbon footprint, too.

Texans' fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

The headquarters state of America's oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The amount is more than that of California and Pennsylvania - the second- and third-ranking states - combined.

A multitude of factors contribute to the carbon output, among them: Texas' 19 coal-burning power plants; a heavy concentration of refineries and chemical plants; a lack of mass transit; and a penchant among ranchers and urban cowboys alike for brawny, gas-guzzling trucks - sometimes to haul things, but often just to look Texas tough.

Debbie Howden, an Austin real estate agent, said her family of six has two pickup trucks, three SUVs, and no apologies. "I would definitely put size and safety over the emissions thing," said Howden, 55. She calls their high fuel bills a "necessary evil."

Anthony Nguyen attended the famously liberal University of California at Berkeley but drives a black Nissan Frontier pickup handed down from his dad, a liquor store owner near Houston. Nguyen said his father hauled liquor around in the truck, but he admitted he has no practical use for its large bed.

"I think it's the idea that in Texas, everything is bigger," said Nguyen, 20. "I grew up here, and I think it's pretty cool."

While states such as like California and New York are moving quickly to address global warming, the issue has prompted only scattered calls for reforms here. GOP leaders in Texas have refused to make emissions reduction a priority, and Republican Gov. Rick Perry has expressed doubt as to whether global warming is even a manmade problem.

Texas political leaders read "environmental protection as government activism" and want no part of it, said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

With all the don't-mess-with-Texas swagger he can muster, Perry has called Al Gore's mouth the leading source of carbon dioxide. As for the state's greenhouse gas ranking, Perry's administration makes no apologies.

"Being that Texas is a heavily populated state, that it is the leading producer of energy, has the largest refining capacity and has the largest petrochemical industry in the nation, it would be expected that we would have the largest total of greenhouse gases in the country," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

Texas, the second most populous state, behind California, has 23.5 million people and more than 20 million registered vehicles, about one in four of them a pickup truck. California has a population of 36.5 million and 33 million registered vehicles.

Transportation accounted for 28 percent of Texas' carbon emissions in 2003.

Texas consumes more coal than any other state. And its per-capita residential use of electricity is significantly higher than the national average, because of high demand for air conditioning during the hot summers and the widespread use of electricity for heating during the winter.

There is little doubt the state's stand on pollution reflects the influence of Texas' biggest and most powerful industry: energy.

"Decisions are not just made by politicians because of a lack of foresight, but in many cases, they have big contributors encouraging them to move in that direction," said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.

Texans polled last spring listed the Iraq war and immigration as the nation's most pressing issues, with fewer than 4 percent saying the environment was a top concern. Nationally, slightly less than half of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center last year rated global warming as a "very serious" problem. Of those, 55 percent say it requires immediate government action.

Kirk Pingel, 28, said his Chevy Trailblazer gets about 18 miles per gallon on the highway, but high gas prices don't deter him: "I'd rather have the luxury of the car I want instead of a car that gets good gas mileage but maybe I didn't want that car."

Pingel coaches youth football and basketball teams and said the extra space in his SUV is useful for transporting sports equipment. His theory on why Texans love their trucks and SUVs? "The larger the car, the bigger you feel," he said.

There is some evidence that attitudes are changing, but only modestly.

The number of hybrid vehicles registered in Texas more than doubled last year, to 48,550. Still, that's only a fraction of 1 percent of all vehicles registered in the state.

"As more hybrids are added on, particularly hybrids that are trucks, you see a spike in those," said Kim Sue Lia Perkes, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation title and registration division. "You might not get Texans out of their trucks, but they will buy their hybrid trucks."

The governor touts the state's leadership on renewable energy, like wind. But environmentalists were outraged early last year when Perry signed an executive order to speed construction of 11 new coal-fired power plants. Plans for most of those plants were eventually scrapped after TXU - the state's biggest utility and the source of $400,000 in contributions to Perry's political campaigns - was sold to a private equity firm.

Last fall, the mayors of the state's seven largest cities kicked off a campaign to encourage Texans to replace incandescent light bulbs with efficient compact fluorescents.

"Texans have long had their heads in the sand and now the sand is getting so hot that they're starting to pull it out and look around at what other states are doing," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office.

One of the House's most conservative members recently declared there's no sense in debating global warming and created a House Carbon Caucus to address carbon emissions.

"It's not about whether global warming is a fact. I don't think we ever get anywhere with that," said Republican state Rep. Warren Chisum, a rancher from the Texas Panhandle and chairman of the House budget-writing committee. He said about 56 Republican and Democratic House members out of 150 have joined the Carbon Caucus.

Teri Kuester, a textbook consultant, drives a Toyota Tundra pickup around Austin. "We need the ability to go to Home Depot, to go to Lowe's and be able to haul stuff back," she said. "We need the ability to go to the nursery and bring back plants."

But she hopes to buy a more efficient vehicle next time around, and when she can, she walks to the post office and the drugstore instead of driving.

"It's time to quit letting the oil lobbies run things," she said. "We need alternative energy. We're really interested in seeing that."

[knyghtwolf]

mcharlton4, I lived in west texass for twelve years, dealt with idiots on a daily basis due to my physical disability that called for me to use a dog, the education in west texass is indicitive to the attitude most texassans have about their so-called great state, which in my opinion, is nothing more than a biblebelt neo-christian drunken lowbrow IQ moron community, IGNORANCE is religion and STUPIDITY the WAY of life. Accept it, you people have a texass sized *** attitude too. THOSE ARE THE FACTS.

[jowand]

Did anyone notice that it''''s snowing in Saudi Arabia? In the desert. Uh huh.
Posted by tburzio at 02:51 PM : Jan 17, 2008

It''s blowing over from the ski resort in Dubai

[jowand]

Texas is also the NO 1 Polluter of the White House!!!
Posted by usmcvn at 06:37 PM : Jan 17, 2008

The Whitehouse under Clinton was a Sperm Depository.

[jowand]

Texas refines 66 percent of crude oil in the USA, a lot more than California and Pennsilvania combined.
Produces more electricity from wind turbines that any other state, eventually 20 + percent of the states power will be from wind power.
Texas would have been the largest producer of electricity from nuclear power but for the enviro freaks of the 70s driving the cost up so much from phony law suits.
The idiot(s) who wrote this fable needs to get their facts in order.

[traderdays]

I live and drive in Texas. I have a 1 ton truck ,2.5 ton truck and 1/4 ton S-10 pickup. I was trying to save gas and not pollute so I drove my S-10 to Dallas where I was rear ended by a Katrina evacuee from New Orleans who had no insurance or drivers license. I am now disabled for life. Had I been in one of my bigger truck the out come would have been different. No more small trucks for me.

[hillaryin08]

Hey Liberal Jihadist

Just to let you know because you wont get this on CBS News, The Culinary Workers Union is going to be allowed to caucus at work in Vegas on Saturday despite the efforts of the Clintons to prevent it.

Instead of "Rock the Vote" the Clintons should use "Stop the Vote" with Obamma being the undertone.

[mcharlton]

I live in Texas. I can breathe fine. I haven''t seen any major global warming temprature increases either. The reason we "pollute" the environment so much (cracks me up to hear those words)is because we''re the second biggest state in the freakin'' union. There''s at least 4 major metroplexes. You can''t support a population that size on wind. That''s just stupid. There''s been rolling blackouts in certain parts of Texas based on the current plants. I''m glad the government chose to accomodate us rather than pander to the greenie weenies.

This is an example of journalism science. Jump to the conclusion without looking to see if it might be flawed. Most people who say that we''re strange post-Bush drones are saying it out of ignorance. We happen to be sensible people.

[yankeerebel7]

Dont forget we also try to run over as many puppies as we can and enjoy clubbing baby seals on the weekends....in between bar-baqueing. BWAHAHAHA!

[tburzio]

Did anyone notice that it''s snowing in Saudi Arabia? In the desert. Uh huh.

[yankeerebel7]

I hate when the little states start biting at Texas'' ankles.

Btw, driving large cars is also a function of saftey...I saw the same thing with SUVs living in CA, and the cities there were much smoggier.

[emma915]

My dad always said, "If you put out rat poison to kill the rats and your neighbors don''t, you''re still gonna have problems with rats." He died of black lung disease from working in Pennsylvania''s coal mines, which also gives proof to the fact that, "there ain''t no such thing as clean coal!"

[quetzal666]

davek455.....
it sounds good in Theory,
moving a conference from city to city state to state,
this happens all the time,

The problem is not the location, but the organisation
who you are using to plan it.

you will need to hire Union Help,
conveniently at the Freeman Counter if its a union town,
and you will still be dealing with Freeman for shipping, Drayage, etc. etc........

[cbloom57]

No surprise to me! As far as I''m concerned, Texas shouldn''t even be a state.

[davek455]

Maybe the big conference organizers cannot be budged, but a lot of us smaller folks do have an impact. I work for an organization that is trying to decide whether to host a conference in Dallas or Portland, Oregon. Because of this article, I am heavily pushing the planners to select Portland as our conference location.

[micma-2009]

Bush rolled back environmental regulation when he was governor of Texas and he''s further rolled back the clean air act as President. His environmental policies have made big money for big polluters and passed on the cost to average citizens in the form of illness and death.

[octavianfdlr]

On Jan 17, 2008, at 07:25 AM, skyk posted a reply to CO2Max:

Where did you get your degree? I ask because I teach History at a College here in the South. EVERY professor I''ve talked to in the Science Department disagree''s with you STRONGLY. You shouldn''t be on here pretending to be someone you aren''t. Carbon WILL kill you if enough of it is breathed in, this has been proven beyond a doubt. When you dump MORE carbon into our air creating more of a Green House effect it carries some serious results. We are begining to experience those results, denying them will not make them go away.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

So someone who claims "I teach History at a College here in the South" and uses an apostrophe to make the present singular form of a verb now claims that every science professor "disagree''s" strongly with anyone who distinguishes between carbon and carbon dioxide.

skyk should not pretend to be what he (or she) is not. skyk also should not pretend to know what science professors say -- most of them know the difference between carbon (an element) and carbon dioxide (a compound). But maybe southern science professors are as benighted as skyk wishes we were!

It is true, as skyk says, that denying the results of the greenhouse effect will make them go away. If denial worked that way, all human life on Earth would have frozen to death last year from all the denial!

[quetzal666]

No conventions or conferences in Texas..........

this certainly will not work at all,
one of the largest if not the largest convention organisers in the USA is a company from Dallas,
they have the monopoly in this area,
you cannot go to any convention without using Freeman Decorating.
Good Luck in this boycott!!!!!

[realtalk5950]

Anthony Nguyen attended the famously liberal University of California at Berkeley but drives a black Nissan Frontier pickup handed down from his dad, a liquor store owner near Houston. Nguyen said his father hauled liquor around in the truck, but he admitted he has no practical use for its large bed.


"I think it''s the idea that in Texas, everything is bigger," said Nguyen, 20. "I grew up here, and I think it''s pretty cool."

Wow, what an idiot. please go back to texas, turn your "frontier" on and put your nose in the tailpipe and save this world from one less moron.

[quetzal666]

No conventions or conferences in Texas.....
th

[davek455]

If Texans won''t listen to science. If they won''t change their ways over concern for others, then perhaps the rest of us should force some change on them. BOYCOTT Texas. No vacations in Texas. No conventions or conferences in Texas. Do not buy products with the ''Texas Grown'' label. Let''s hit Texans in the wallet and then maybe they will start to understand that we are all affected by each other''s decisions.