Texas has overwhelmingly voted in favor of approving a measure that would greenlight the development of more fossil fuel despite the worsening climate crisis.
The ballot proposition that residents voted for on Tuesday would establish a billion-dollar state-managed energy fund to bolster natural gas power plant infrastructure. The measure, known as Proposition 7, will create the so-called Texas Energy Fund and was passed in a 65% to 35% vote with more than 2.5 million ballots cast.
Texas Votes for Development of More Fossil Fuel
The energy industry supported the ballot measure that many environmentalists have opposed. The proposition would set aside $5 billion to guarantee low-interest loans for new dispatchable power generation within the state.
In a statement following the vote, the president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), Todd Staples, said that the company is pleased to see infrastructure propositions for water, electricity, and broadband pass with voters' overwhelming support.
Staples added that in voting to approve such measures, Texas voters are ensuring that the Lone Star State continues to be the best place to live, work, play, and raise a family. The TXOGA president noted that Proposition 7 will help strengthen the reliability of the state's electric grid by ensuring that it will perform no matter what weather comes to pass.
The proposition is the final step in lawmakers' efforts to enact Senate Bill 2627, which Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law back in July. Under that bill, loans that are financed by the Texas Energy Fund must have a 20-year term and interest rate of 3%. These can be used to upgrade existing dispatchable power generation to increase capacity by at least 100 megawatts (MW).
It could also be used to construct a new power generation with a capacity of at least 100 megawatts. A natural gas power plant that has such a capacity would be able to power tens of thousands of homes.
The situation comes as the United Nations released a new report that says the amount of fossil fuels produced in 2030 will far exceed the levels that are needed for our planet to alleviate global warming, according to the Voice of America News.
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Current Climate Crisis
The UN Environment Program's study argues that 20 of the world's major fossil fuel-producing countries are on track to produce about 110% more oil, gas, and coal in 2030 than the amounts consistent with limiting global temperature rise to the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The optimistic efforts to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels are part of a key goal in the global climate pact that was signed in Paris eight years ago.
Texas' vote also comes as the state is known to spew out double the rate of methane than New Mexico as revealed by new satellite data. The data prompted renewed calls for tougher curbs on "super-emitter" sites that risk tipping the world into what experts fear is a climate breakdown.
Satellite imaging of methane leaks across the Permian basin shows that areas such as Texas have emitted double the amount of the gas than New Mexico per unit of production since 2019. This is worrying because methane is a potent planet-heating gas that is roughly 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a two-decade period, said The Guardian.
