Texas approved a $4.9 billion plan to build energy transmission lines in order to transport the wind-generated electricity in the West Texas wind farms. It's said to be the biggest investment in renewable energy in the nation's history. While Texas is already the national leader in wind energy, this investment will insure there is the proper infrastructure to transport the energy collected from the turbines.
It seems that finally Texas is taking a step in the right direction, and for once we are an innovative example for the nation. Hopefully this will just be one step of many that the Lone Star State takes toward a more environmentally friendly way of life. And hey, if Texas can do it, a state which is infamous for it's oil production and consumption, anyone can. There is hope for the Nation yet.
Showing posts with label the environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the environment. Show all posts
Friday, July 18, 2008
Texas Finally Did Something Right
Friday, July 11, 2008
At least somethings will never change
So, I was worried I was going to have a hard time deciding on what I wanted my first real entry to be about, but then I came across this and all those fears melted away.
The Bush administration, as usual, is avoiding sticking their neck out on the line about anything that really matters. They are refusing to regulate greenhouse gasses; passing the buck to the next administration and completely ignoring the Supreme Court's May ruling to reduce emissions. The EPA goes as far to say that they "made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health," conveniently disregarding the basic fact that excess carbon dioxide in the air is bad...mmk (sorry, couldn't resist the reference).
This seems to be the general environmental policy of the current administration, ignore it, and hopefully it will magically ride off into the distance, or maybe, if their lucky, someone else will fix it. Either way, they don't' care as long as they don't have to actually address the problem. As we saw in 2002 when Bush dismissed his own administrations report that human activities are effecting climate change, in 2005 when he refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol and today in ignoring even a Supreme Court he stacked in his favor.
Beyond the general qualms with his policy, I don't understand his reluctance to use the Clean Air Act of 1990, an act his father helped pass. The act alone is not enough to fix all of our problems, I will admit, but it's a start. It outlines a clear and concise plan of action to reduce harmful emissions, unlike the recent G8 summit where they proposed a not-so-lofty goal of 50% reduction by 2050 but came up with no tangible plan to do so. If someone could shed some light on this for me I'd be much obliged.
At least we're at a point where our president is willing to admit that global warming is actually real. Now the problem is not to change the opinion of the administration, but to light a fire under it's ass and get it going. Unfortunately the fire is being kindled by the lukewarm environmental policy of the Republican party.
Well, fortunately for the environment, and the nation, there is a silver lining: we are in the home stretch of this president. Within a few months we will have new policies to pick apart, different decisions to critique, and a new president to complain about...or not. Personally, I'm hopping (even though it may mean near death for the political blog sphere) for the latter.
The Bush administration, as usual, is avoiding sticking their neck out on the line about anything that really matters. They are refusing to regulate greenhouse gasses; passing the buck to the next administration and completely ignoring the Supreme Court's May ruling to reduce emissions. The EPA goes as far to say that they "made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health," conveniently disregarding the basic fact that excess carbon dioxide in the air is bad...mmk (sorry, couldn't resist the reference).This seems to be the general environmental policy of the current administration, ignore it, and hopefully it will magically ride off into the distance, or maybe, if their lucky, someone else will fix it. Either way, they don't' care as long as they don't have to actually address the problem. As we saw in 2002 when Bush dismissed his own administrations report that human activities are effecting climate change, in 2005 when he refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol and today in ignoring even a Supreme Court he stacked in his favor.
Beyond the general qualms with his policy, I don't understand his reluctance to use the Clean Air Act of 1990, an act his father helped pass. The act alone is not enough to fix all of our problems, I will admit, but it's a start. It outlines a clear and concise plan of action to reduce harmful emissions, unlike the recent G8 summit where they proposed a not-so-lofty goal of 50% reduction by 2050 but came up with no tangible plan to do so. If someone could shed some light on this for me I'd be much obliged.
At least we're at a point where our president is willing to admit that global warming is actually real. Now the problem is not to change the opinion of the administration, but to light a fire under it's ass and get it going. Unfortunately the fire is being kindled by the lukewarm environmental policy of the Republican party.
Well, fortunately for the environment, and the nation, there is a silver lining: we are in the home stretch of this president. Within a few months we will have new policies to pick apart, different decisions to critique, and a new president to complain about...or not. Personally, I'm hopping (even though it may mean near death for the political blog sphere) for the latter.
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