AUSTIN -- Global warming and its impact in Texas will come under
legislative scrutiny in the coming months -- but some of the key
lawmakers behind that official review also remain some of global
warming's biggest skeptics.
"I'm not holding my breath that
there will be any substantial action -- the deck has been stacked with
global-warming doubters and industry supporters," said Luke Metzger,
director of the Environment Texas, a conservation group.
House
Speaker Tom Craddick this week created the Select Committee on Electric
Generation Capacity and Environmental Effects. Craddick charged the new
panel with studying the state's long-term electricity needs, as well as
the extra capacity's effects on global warming and climate change.
Craddick, R-Midland, has said he is unsure whether there is scientific
consensus showing human activity causes global warming. In a prepared
release, a spokeswoman said Craddick expects the committee "to evaluate
current scientific positions relating to the issue of climate change."
The
lawmaker tapped to chair the committee, state Rep. Dennis Bonnen,
R-Angleton, has expressed doubts about the importance of climate change
and whether human activity is to blame. "Over the last 100 years,
you've had only 1 degree increase of temperature -- most people who
aren't pushing an agenda would say that's not troubling," said Bonnen,
who also chairs the House committee responsible for most environmental
issues.
The committee's charges follow closely the language
of House Bill 2713, which Gov. Rick Perry vetoed on June 15. The bill
would have created a committee to determine the state's long-term
energy needs and their effect on the environment. The United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is the world's leading
scientific panel on the issue, concluded this year that the evidence of
global warming is "unequivocal." The panel reported that there's at
least a 90 percent certainty that humans are responsible for the trend.
Scientific American magazine, in a recent cover story, also
concluded that "the debate on global warming is over" and that "carbon
dioxide from SUVs and local coal-fired utilities is causing a steady
uptick in the thermometer."
TXU, which for years questioned
the underlying science of climate change, acknowledged to the
Star-Telegram recently that "there is a consensus in the scientific
community" about global warming.
Metzger, of Environment
Texas, said it's "mind-boggling" that key state leaders continue to do
nothing about the issue, given what he described as overwhelming
evidence. "It's really irresponsible," he said. "If they continue to
doubt, and not take any real action, they'll be remembered as Herbert
Hoover was [remembered] -- for failing to do anything about the Great
Depression. It's completely irresponsible and it's frustrating."
Bonnen
said that he will keep an open mind. "I want to be clear that this is
one of the things that this committee is going to look at," he said. "I
want to bring people who have different opinions, and who have good
facts, and we'll have to sort through it." Bonnen said the committee
will begin meeting sometime next year, and will probably conduct
hearings throughout the state.
The eight-member panel also
will include state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, who chairs the House
Regulated Industries Committee and another global warming skeptic.
rdyer@star-telegram.com R.A. Dyer reports from the Star-Telegram's
Austin bureau, 512 476-4294.
