"dont mess with texas energy use"

saw this in my local paper this morning--absolutely disgusting:

Texas Is Biggest Carbon Polluter
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 16, 2008
Filed at 7:48 p.m. ET

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Everything's big in Texas -- big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state's big carbon footprint, too. Texans' fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

The headquarters state of America's oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administrationon-code="us,world,nyregion,washingCalifornia and Pennsylvania -- the second- and third-ranking states -- combined.

A multitude of factors contribute to the carbon output, among them: Texas' 19 coal-burning power plants; a heavy concentration of refineries and chemical plants; a lack of mass transit; and a penchant among ranchers and urban cowboys alike for brawny, gas-guzzling trucks -- sometimes to haul things, but often just to look Texas tough.

Debbie Howden, an Austin real estate agent, said her family of six has two pickup trucks, three SUVs, and no apologies. ''I would definitely put size and safety over the emissions thing,'' said Howden, 55. She calls their high fuel bills a ''necessary evil.
. . . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Global-Warming-Texas.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=texas+energy+use&oref=slogin

But I'm always up for a challenge. I just love fucking with them by reminding them that Bush has laid an enormous burden on their children that they won't live long enough to pay back to China.

:evilgrin:

It's covered in dirt and dust and has scratches and dings all over it. The shiny ones with chrome wheels that look like they've never been off the road belong to what I call "urping cowboys"

in San Antonio have those "ranch grills" on them. Not for working, they're so the deer don't mess up their front ends. They're on SUVs too.

EDIT

While states such as like California and New York are moving quickly to address global warming, the issue has prompted only scattered calls for reforms here. GOP leaders in Texas have refused to make emissions reduction a priority, and Republican Gov. Rick Perry has expressed doubt as to whether global warming is even a manmade problem.

Texas political leaders read ''environmental protection as government activism'' and want no part of it, said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

With all the don't-mess-with-Texas swagger he can muster, Perry has called Al Gore's mouth the leading source of carbon dioxide. As for the state's greenhouse gas ranking, Perry's administration makes no apologies.

EDIT

You know, Houston could be wiped off the map by an 820-millibar hurricane, and these clowns would just turn Rush and Savage and Hannity up louder so they wouldn't have to hear the sound of the wind.

nt