We've all heard about how Gov. Perry and the big coal plant companies are trying to ram 11 new dirty coal plants through the political process. Given the Republicans' complete control of Texas government, the outlook isn't good.
But Sen. Obama has stepped in to try to create national legislation capping global warming gases that would force the coal companies to make serious changes in their plans. Obama's legislation might be the only solution we can realisitcally hope for in our deeply red home state of Texas.
From the Statesman:
A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Friday would place mandatory caps on global-warming gases and could threaten utility companies across the country that own coal-fired power plants.
The Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 would cap greenhouse-gas emissions of the electric power, industrial, transportation and commercial sectors at 2004 levels by 2012 and reduce them to one-third that level by 2050.
Similar bills, introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2003 and 2005 failed to pass.
But the new measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has provisions that improve its chances of passing in the new Democratic-controlled Congress.
The White House has opposed caps on carbon emissions, saying they are too costly and deter economic growth.
The bill aims to soften the financial blow to companies by allowing them to borrow, save and trade emissions credits with other companies to stay under the cap.
But it would also create a serious problem for utility companies that own coal-fired power plants, which produce more than half of the country's electricity but also one-third of its carbon dioxide emissions — the main cause of global warming.
Plans by Dallas-based TXU Corp. to build 11 coal-fired power plants in Texas by 2010 have sparked one of the biggest environmental battles in the state's history.
If the bill introduced Friday passes in its current form, it "will significantly affect the outlook for old-coal technology," said Jason Grumet, executive director of the bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy.
