A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for economic stimulus money for a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project.
The joint venture between U.S. and Chinese energy companies will be financed largely by China’s export-import bank.
But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the project organizers reportedly are planning to ask for 30 percent financing — or $450 million — from the federal stimulus program designed to produce U.S. jobs.
Yet, all of the 240 wind turbines on 36,000 acres in West Texas will be made in a plant in China, producing Chinese jobs. So, Schumer is writing Energy Secretary Steven Chu, urging the administration to reject a request for a federal grant should one arrive.
Senator Schumer’s letter to Secretary Chu is below.
Public Citizen filed a suit against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in the Travis County District Court to require the commission to regulate global warming gases. This case seeks to extend to Texas law the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must regulate it.
The Texas Coast will likely see significantly more flooding and damage from hurricanes because of global warming, according to a new Texas A&M University study.
The scientists, using data from previous hurricanes and international projections on emissions of climate-altering gases, predicted rising sea levels, more intense storms and increased flooding.
And damage in coastal communities would more than triple by the 2080s, according to the study released Monday, the first day of hurricane season.
The research team focused on the potential impacts to Corpus Christi, home to about 280,000 people, a massive port and the nation’s third-largest refinery and petrochemical complex.
But Jennifer Irish, a Texas A&M coastal engineer who led the study, said the findings apply to all cities along the coast.
“The overall impact would be similar” for other Gulf cities, such as Galveston, she said.
What a way to start hurricane season. While we can’t tie any particular severe weather event to human-induced climate change, we do know this: warmer water in the gulf of Mexico increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events on the gulf coast.
