Story of the Day: Governor Perry's Bid to Make Texas the No-Star State

That we must act now to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming is the consensus among leading climatologists. So what do you do if you're Governor Rick Perry of Texas (successor to enviro-obstructionist George W. Bush) and, in Houston, you already share the dishonor of most smog-filled city with Los Angeles?

Now, Texas utility companies are proposing to build 17 new coal-burning power plants and one petroleum-coke power plant over the next four years.

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Gov. Rick Perry has issued an executive order fast-tracking state permits for the proposed plants.

How does this gray-thumbed governor justify these plans?

Perry dismissed the opposition's concerns over air quality, arguing they wanted to return Texas to the era of the horse and buggy. Perry emphasized that the utility companies would reduce some pollutants by 20 percent or more.

It's the same kind of thinking that has guided our White House's feckless response to air pollution in general and global warming in particular. The game plan? Champion cosmetic concessions (see Clean Air Act) that, in the end, do little or nothing to curb pollution and often increase global warming dramatically.

The new coal plants will pollute the air with nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury. But they will be much cleaner than existing plants. Yet, the old plants will continue running full bore; there are no plans to shut them down or replace them.

One emission the federal government does not regulate is carbon dioxide, the primary global-warming gas. The new power plants in Texas will emit the equivalent of 19 million automobiles' worth of carbon dioxide every year. When all the new plants are up and running, Texas will send nearly as much carbon dioxide up its stacks as California, New York and Florida combined.

The bottom line: Protect your coffers in big oil and reap the dividends. Seems like Rick (known to many around Texas as "George II") learned much from his high-pollutin' predecessor, as well as from Dick Cheney, who, ever so democratically, architected this country's environmental laws in closed-door sessions with big oil.

"The relationship between the utility companies and Rick Perry has been a cozy one," says Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, a political watchdog group which tracks Texas campaign contributions. "Texas has a pay-to-play government. It's not pretty, but that's the way it works down here."

McDonald says Perry has received $148,000 alone from Earle Nye, retired chairman of TXU.

"Nye gave the governor $2,000 on the day Perry signed the order to expedite TXU's coal-fired plants," McDonald says. "Last year, [TXU] employed 52 paid lobbyists to the tune of $3 million."

Meanwhile, never mind what regular folks in Texas think about Perry's plans. Their lives and their children's lives, just as all of our lives, are cheap in the eyes of politicians like Perry and his White House role models.

"I think he's been bought off," says rancher Ruth Pilant. "TXU has given him money to fast-track these permits and give him enough money and he'll do most anything apparently."

Pilant's land is located inside what she calls "the ring of fire," surrounded by what will eventually be six major coal-burning power plants.

"Why don't these people see what they're doing to the state of Texas?" she asks. "Do we want to be known for the most coal-fired plants in the United States? That doesn't sound good to me. I want to see the stars in the sky, you know, that's what we're out here for, that's the reason we're in Texas."

If Perry is successful, the Lone Star State may become known as such for more than the single star on its flag.

Critics Blasts Texas Plans for New "Dirty" Coal Plants
By Wade Goodwyn
National Public Radio