Tag Archives: climate change

Dealing with climate change whether you believe in it or not

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Writer Taylor Hill visits West Texas to talk about drought, wind energy, and the topic that dare not speak its name, also known as climate change. Actions, though, do speak louder than words. AzTx Cattle and other ranching and farming … Continue reading →

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2015 Texas Lyceum poll

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Issues first, election stuff to come. From the press release: The 2015 Texas Lyceum Poll Finds:  Immigration remains the most important issue facing the state and Texans support lawmakers’ increased spending on border security. Texans’ views on  gay marriage are changing. … Continue reading →

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Regulating methane emissions

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Get all your gas and fart jokes ready, because they’re just going to be inevitable. The Obama administration’s plan to slash methane emissions will raise costs for the oil and gas industry, forcing energy companies to invest in new pumps, … Continue reading →

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Who’s afraid of a little climate change?

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We should be in Texas, but we’re not. Texas probably will see a sharp increase in heat-related deaths and coastal storm-related losses in the coming decades if nothing is done to mitigate a changing climate, according to a new study … Continue reading →

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Texas sues the EPA again (and again, and again, and…)

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed a lawsuit over the agency’s rejection of parts of a Texas clean air program, launching the state’s second battle against EPA regulations in less than … Continue reading →

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ERCOT acknowledges that meeting EPA clean air requirements won’t be that big a deal

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Texas Clean Air Matters: Well, it didn’t take long before the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released, at the request of Texas’ very political Public Utilities Commission, another report about the impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) … Continue reading →

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EPA climate change plan would save water

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Well, what do you know? As state regulators fret about how President Obama’s effort to combat climate change would affect the Texas power grid, a new study says the rules would be simpler to adopt than those regulators suggest – … Continue reading →

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SBOE adopts history textbook changes it hasn’t read

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Awesome. After adopting hundreds of pages in last minute updates and corrections, the Texas State Board of Education approved new social studies textbooks Friday. All but the five Democrats on the 15-member board voted to accept products from all publishers … Continue reading →

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It’s OK if energy costs go up for now

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

That’s my reaction to this. As Texas regulators weigh a response to President Obama’s proposal to combat climate change, the operator of the state’s main electric grid says the plan would raise energy costs and threaten reliability – particularly in the … Continue reading →

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SBOE defers new textbook decision

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

They’re funny even when they’re not trying to be. After an afternoon spent wrangling over the proper definition of jihad and the influence of Moses on the Founding Fathers, it was Common Core that ultimately derailed the State Board of … Continue reading →

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It’s textbook approval time again

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

You know what that means, because we can’t do this sort of thing without controversy and a generous side order of knuckleheadedness. Bowing to public pressure, the world’s largest textbook publisher has revised misleading language on global warming in a … Continue reading →

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Mayors against climate change

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Think Globally, Act Locally department. Mayor Annise Parker briefly took center stage Monday in the campaign against climate change by pledging to make America’s energy capital a laboratory for experimentation and action. Frustrated with the congressional response to … Continue reading →

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Next in “What’s wrong with our textbooks”: Climate change

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: An examination of how proposed social studies textbooks for Texas public schools address climate change reveals distortions and bias that misrepresent the broad scientific consensus on the phenomenon. Climate education specialists at the National Center for Science … Continue reading →

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Two environmental stories

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news, and some bad news. The bad news: We have an oyster shortage. Add an oyster shortage in Texas Gulf Coast to the problems exacerbated by the state’s years-long drought. But Texas’ dry spell isn’t the only reason … Continue reading →

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What do the Mayors want?

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Action on climate change. The U.S. Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan group that represents the leaders of 1,400 cities, each of which is home to at least 30,000 people, has called on the Obama administration and Congress to “enact an … Continue reading →

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Texas will do just fine under the new EPA clean air regulations

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Unless it wants to fail, of course, which is always an option under the likes of Rick Perry and Greg Abbott. Texas could lead the way into a less carbon-intensive future under the Obama administration’s plans to sharply reduce greenhouse … Continue reading →

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It’s like the drought never really went away

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

If it ever did go away it didn’t go far, because here it is again. Even as light rain moved through the region Thursday, Houston officially slipped back into a moderate drought. Although most areas only recorded a few hundredths … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS will hear another EPA lawsuit appeal

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Gird your loins. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Texas’ challenge of federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources like power plants and factories, the court announced Tuesday. But it declined to hear the state’s appeals … Continue reading →

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Texas versus EPA, round one zillion

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The desire to coddle polluters is strong in this one. A Texas-led coalition of energy-producing states has asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. … Continue reading →

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That drought we’re having? It’s still bad

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So says our state climatologist in testimony before the Lege. John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist, said that during the past two years Texas received only 68 percent of its typical rainfall, making it the third driest period on record. If … Continue reading →

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We’re still looking at a drought here

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I know we just got a lot of rain this week, but that doesn’t mean that drought conditions are over. The latest seasonal drought outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that for much of Texas and … Continue reading →

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The drought is back

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Bad news, y’all. The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows that more than three-quarters of Texas is now in at least a “moderate” drought, and nearly half the state is in a “severe” or worse … Continue reading →

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CNG garbage trucks

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You won’t hear them coming. Waste Management [announced on Friday that] it is pushing forward on a nationwide plan to convert all of its 18,342 trucks from loud and smoky diesel engines to quieter and cleaner compressed natural gas-powered machines. … Continue reading →

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How dry we were

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We were drier than ever last year. Federal scientists confirmed Friday that Texas had its driest year on record in 2011. The statewide average rainfall for the year totaled just 14.88 inches, according to the National Climatic Data Center, beating … Continue reading →

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We’re #9!

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The ninth greenest metro area, at least in terms of “green” jobs, according to a Brookings study. Houston’s “clean” or “green” economy is ranked 9th among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, according to a new report from the Brookings … Continue reading →

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TCEQ a no-show at EPA hearing

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

They’d rather sue than engage. At the hearing in a hotel ballroom, Al Armendariz, the EPA’s regional administrator for Texas and five adjacent states, said the federal agency prefers to let the state issue the permits, as it does for … Continue reading →

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EPA 3, Texas 0

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

How many times will the courts have to bench-slap our Governor and Attorney General before they get the message that Texas must comply with the same laws as every other state? It’s three and counting. Texas had asked the Court … Continue reading →

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Federal court denies stay in Texas’ lawsuit against EPA

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

No love from the Fifth Circuit. Texas’ bid to stop the federal government’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases hit another roadblock today, when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the state’s request for a stay of a move … Continue reading →

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Federal court clears the way for greenhouse gas rules to be enforced in Texas

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Apparently, Texas is subject to the same laws as those other states. Who knew? A federal appeals court on Friday rejected pleas from Texas, some other states and industry allies to block nationwide rules on greenhouse gas emissions slated to … Continue reading →

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Burning biomass

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t say I knew much about this before I read the story, but now that I have my initial reaction is to be skeptical. Interest in building power plants fueled by wood waste has recently surged in East Texas, … Continue reading →

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San Antonio solar farm

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There’s more solar energy available in Texas now than before. [Texas’] first solar farm, an array of 215,000 photovoltaic panels that capture sun rays and turn them into power, went on line Thursday in San Antonio. Statewide, at least six … Continue reading →

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Cap and trade would cut the federal deficit

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Surely this means all those “deficit hawks” I keep hearing about will rush to embrace the American Power Act now. Right? The CBO analysis of the American Power Act, championed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) found … Continue reading →

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What will climate change legislation cost?

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

My friend Robert Nagle surveys the literature on climate change, specifically analyses of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA), also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, and finds estimates for how much it will cost the average … Continue reading →

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CO2 emissions down

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I thought this was worth sharing. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) just issued its must-read report on U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions in 2009.  It turns out energy-related CO2 emissions have dropped faster than EIA had expected just a few months … Continue reading →

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