Reason #2

No more interference from the EPA

No, we're not all about trashing the environment here in Texas. We're about using a rational approach to balance the need to use Mother Nature's resources to sustain life, and the ongoing issue of how to deal with waste products from manufacturing processes.

Let's take Global Warning.... make that "Climate Change", which is the new moniker for anything that has the remotest possibility to affect the environment. The EPA and other Federal Government entities have completely bought into the notion that the earth is warming up, that this is a bad thing, and that humankind is responsible for the change. The Federal Government, in an effort to thwart the harmful affects of human activity, has come up with a number of "solutions" that are being imposed upon US Citizens, without their consent, and in many cases, against their will.

One of the "solutions" is a Federal program commonly known as "Cap and Trade". This is a program that punishes producers of carbon dioxide gas, and rewards companies that reduce carbon dioxide gas emissions. It works by requiring large producers of carbon dioxide gas to purchase a permit for every metric ton of carbon dioxide gas emitted into the atmosphere. Efficient companies that reduce their carbon dioxide emissions below what is Federally mandated, can sell their excess permits on the open market to companies that have a harder time reducing their carbon emissions. The permit revenue to the Federal Government is anticipated to be between $50B and $300B per year.

Companies will be required to continually reduce total carbon emissions until 2050, at which time the total emissions will be 80% less than 1990 levels, the year when the Clean Air Act was passed.

Here's the problem with Cap and Trade.

Leading scientists all over the world disagree about Global Warming. The disagreements run the gamet from "Is the earth getting any warmer?" to "what's the harm in getting a little warmer?". Environmental groups are attempting to have carbon dioxide gas labled as "toxic" so that it falls into yet another category of Federal regulation. It is currently deemed "harmful to human life" by the EPA, which magically gives the EPA the right to regulate it... anywhere and everywhere. Keep in mind that carbon dioxide gas is the gas that all plant life breaths. It has been present in the atmosphere since the beginning of time. The earth cannot exist without it. Also keep mind these facts:

1. The earth goes through natural warming and cooling cycles about every 1,400 years
2. Scientific evidence shows an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide gas after a warming trend, not before. In other words, there is no scientific evidence that an increase in carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere causes the earth to warm.
3. There is no scientific evidence that humankind is causing a warming trend.

For these reasons, and these reasons alone, this topic warrants a lot more discussion and investigation. What the Federal Government is doing amounts to a knee-jerk reaction to environmental extremists. It is costly and unnecessary.

Other intrusions by the EPA and similar federal agencies have resulted in the loss of private property, the halting of brige and/or road construction, the banning of products that have not been proven to be harmful, and other costly mandates. This is why Texas needs to be managing its own environment, in the best interest of its residents.