BarryLaverty Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 More hypocrisy! But, Galveston needs help. What to do? https://www.yahoo.com/news/while-texas-heats-climate-denying-165042218.html While Texas Heats Up, Its Climate Denying Politicians Seek Federal Help Eugene Linden Thu, June 29, 2023 at 11:50 AM CDT Bipartisan Members Of Senate Announce Military Justice Improvement And Increasing Prevention Act U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks outside the U.S. Capitol on April 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. Credit - Stefani Reynolds—Getty Images Audacity. Effrontery. Temerity. Whatever word you choose, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and the state’s two senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, are setting the new standard for chutzpah when it comes to juggling climate adaptation with denial and promotion of fossil fuels. Texas is now in the third week of a record-setting heat wave, exacerbated by climate change, but Abbott and the legislature are doing everything they can to slow the shift to renewables and promote fossil fuels. And, despite their dismissal of the threat of global warming, Abbott, Cornyn, and Cruz have been lobbying vigorously for the federal government to pay the lion’s share of hugely expensive coastal defenses to protect Galveston and surrounding areas from sea level rise and mega storms associated with climate change. From sea level rise and hurricanes, to extreme heat, Texas is one of the most threatened states in the U.S. when it comes to the impacts of climate change. It ranked first in the number of billion dollar disasters per year since 2001, and a 2020 analysis by ProPublica and The New York Times of America’s 3,000 counties revealed that, of the 135 counties deemed most at risk from a changing climate, 24 are in Texas. In that group is Harris county, the third most populous county in the United States. To adapt, the state must build up its defenses. And ever since a plan to bolster coastal defenses around Galveston was first developed following the $30 billion damage inflicted by Hurricane Ike in 2008, Abbott, Cornyn, and Cruz have been trying to get federal help to fund the massive infrastructure project. In total, Texas politicians are looking to the federal government to shoulder the lion’s share of over $60 billion in estimated costs for better storm and flooding infrastructure projects (including bolstering a sea wall and wastewater tunnels) resulting from a threat they’ve been actively ignoring—and making worse. Over the years, many of Texas’s leading politicians have denied the overwhelming science that humans—and the burning of fossil fuels—is to blame for rising global temperatures. Cruz, for example, asserted in a 2015 Senate hearing on climate change that carbon emissions had made the planet “greener” than it once was. And while Cornyn acknowledges that it’s a threat, last August he voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s climate bill (in essence voting against funding climate change adaptation projects outside of Texas), and in 2021 he dismissed advocacy for climate action and renewables as a “cult.” Not just that, they have fought for policies that will likely exacerbate the problem. In March, Abbott vowed to “…exclude renewables from any revived economic incentive program,” and introduced five bills that would lower support for wind and solar projects and, worse, force renewable energy to subsidize fossil fuel expansion. (Of course, it should be acknowledged that the mayors of Texas’s biggest cities are well aware of the climate threat. Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, for example, is chair emeritus of Climate Mayors, an association of mayors organized to promote climate action.) In order to strengthen Texas’s infrastructure in the face of climate change, the state must raise and extend the sea wall that protects Galveston from hurricanes and storm surges. Estimated to cost over $34 billion, this would be the most expensive project in the history of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for overseeing these types of civil works projects around the country. And Abbott, Cruz, and Cornyn want all U.S. taxpayers—not just Texas residents—to foot most of this bill. In January, President Biden signed The National Defense Authorization Act, greenlighting the project, but it’s still not clear how the funding will be divided between the federal government and Texas. Meanwhile, Texas politicians are eyeing the Army Corps to pick up the tab for a series of underground drainage tunnels proposed as a way to protect Houston from floods such as those following Hurricane Harvey. The estimated price tag? $30 billion. ADVERTISEMENT OK jump on watching him I can see it. I am that white fluffy dress. I got the one that has the room. Galveston’s 17 ft.-tall seawall was built after a hurricane in 1900 (immortalized in Erik Larson’s book, Isaac’s Storm) flooded the city, killing 6,000 people. The first 3 mile-long section of the seawall was completed in 1904, and it was gradually extended over the next 59 years to its final length of 10 miles. Its designers expected that it would protect the city forever, a reasonable expectation in the early 20th century, as, at that time, sea level had been relatively stable for thousands of years. As New York City learned during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, however, coastal defenses that had withstood 100 years of storm surges weren’t up to the added impact of sea level rise and higher winds associated with climate change. In the case of Sandy, a 1-ft. contribution from sea level rise in a 14 ft. storm surge was enough to flood the subways for the first time, inflicting $5 billion in damage on the mass transit system, and $19 billion in damage to the city as a whole. In the case of Galveston, the storm surge from Hurricane Ike overtopped parts of the sea wall in 2008. The storm also produced a 22 ft. surge in Sabine Pass, located about 62 miles to the east. There’s no doubt that the storm was a harbinger rather than a never-to-be-repeated anomaly. This region of the Gulf Coast has seen the fastest sea level rise on the planet: some 2 ft. in the last hundred years. Ground subsidence due to over-pumping of groundwater for cities and various industries has also exacerbated sea level rise here. And then there is Houston, just up the Houston Ship Channel from Sabine Pass. The city’s most recent problem is not storm surge, but flooding caused by rainfall. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey dumped up to 60 inches of rain on some of its suburbs and inflicted $125 billion damage on surrounding Harris County. The rainfall was so extreme because Harvey lingered over the area for days. It’s part of an increasing climate trend of slower, wetter, more-intense storms: Hurricane Florence moved at the pace of a leisurely jogger once it hit Texas’s coast in 2018, followed by Hurricane Sally in 2020, Ida in 2021, and Ian in 2022. And earlier this year, on April 12, 2023, a tropical system parked itself over Fort Lauderdale for 12 hours, drowning the city in 25.91 inches of rain. Houston has multiple plans to defend itself against future floods, including the more than $30 billion proposed system of underground storm-water tunnels to speed rainwater to the ship channel now in the phase of feasibility studies. Naturally, Harris Country is going to look to the Army Corps of Engineers to cover most of the bill if they go ahead. Problem is, the Corps has a lot of such proposals coming at it, and its current backlog is many times its annual budget. Texas politicians seem to believe that voters around the country are eager to subsidize climate change adaptation projects in a state whose leaders are doing their best to make the problem worse. Texas is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the U.S., twice the amount produced by California. If Texas were a country it would be the eighth largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. But regardless of whether U.S. taxpayers pick up the tab for saving Texas’s coast and cities, Texans are going to see their climate-related costs rise in the form of increased insurance premiums and energy costs for cooling homes during worsening and more frequent heat waves. Of course, that assumes that the power grid can keep up with the increased need for cooling as climate change intensifies (and if the grid holds up, it’s in part because of the contribution of those renewables that Abbott is trying to penalize). That grid is already straining as Texas is in the third week of a record-shattering heat wave. A few more such weather extremes, and perhaps Texas voters will begin to think about electing leaders who recognize the gravity of the threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamewatcher63 Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 https://www.eugenelinden.com meet the author of this article….libnut NY climate change doomsayer….when this libtard was living in NY in 1980 I was working on a road construction crew during one of the hottest summers ever recorded…he knows nothing about TX weather…. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olduy Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Kinda dumb to live at sea level and be worried about hurricanes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RETIREDFAN1 Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 2 hours ago, gamewatcher63 said: https://www.eugenelinden.com meet the author of this article….libnut NY climate change doomsayer….when this libtard was living in NY in 1980 I was working on a road construction crew during one of the hottest summers ever recorded…he knows nothing about TX weather…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirtFalcon Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Record setting heat? .... Sea level rise? .... What a moron .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveTV1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 4 hours ago, KirtFalcon said: Record setting heat? .... Sea level rise? .... What a moron .... They all promote doom a gloom now days. Just listen to the weatherman anytime a storm rolls through. This is nothing new, but I guess it's new to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte1076 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 That article has a completely stupid headline. NO politician denies there's a climate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RETIREDFAN1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 10 minutes ago, Monte1076 said: That article has a completely stupid headline. NO politician denies there's a climate. Better check with Sheila Jackson Lee........lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryLaverty Posted July 2, 2023 Author Share Posted July 2, 2023 People confusing weather with climate is always good for a chuckle. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion7000 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 2 hours ago, BarryLaverty said: People confusing weather with climate is always good for a chuckle. People confusing Summer with the heat that happens every year makes you a liberal nut. Climate change is fake a Democrat leadership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyZuco Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 I've always lived by the following... If you live by the sea....expect hurricanes If you live in a desert....expect heat If you live in Tornado Alley....expect tornadoes If you live where it is cold....expect blizzards By understanding where you live, you will be able to protect yourself and family better, and be prepared....those that don't understand those concepts....well they usually are those whining about the climate..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsfanatic1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 https://www.politifact.com/personalities/new-york-times/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryLaverty Posted July 2, 2023 Author Share Posted July 2, 2023 https://www.yahoo.com/news/emergency-room-visits-surge-texans-214749191.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Rab Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 23 hours ago, BarryLaverty said: Texas is now in the third week of a record-setting heat wave, exacerbated by climate change, but Abbott and the legislature are doing everything they can to slow the shift to renewables and promote fossil fuels. It’s not proven that climate change influences any of this. This literally happens every damned summer. The real problem Is that Texas doesn’t produce enough energy. Especially with the huge increase of those moving to Texas from our liberal states out west and northwest. Is that a Gov. Abbott problem or an ERCOT problem or both? answer that, then hold them accountable. I don’t like Abbott, but he sure as hell is a better answer than what BETO would have been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsfanatic1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 (edited) . Edited July 2, 2023 by Sportsfanatic1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobo97 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 14 hours ago, BarryLaverty said: People confusing weather with climate is always good for a chuckle. You do understand what climate is, right? Your comment says no. Either way, liberals thinking they can control the climate is always good for a chuckle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobo97 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 11 hours ago, Mojo1000 said: People confusing Summer with the heat that happens every year makes you a liberal nut. Climate change is fake a Democrat leadership. Climate change isn’t fake, but it’s also not controllable by man. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsfanatic1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsfanatic1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsfanatic1 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 (edited) Very interesting...Global cooling expected in 2025 Edited July 2, 2023 by Sportsfanatic1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB2point0 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 6 minutes ago, Sportsfanatic1 said: Will be lots of passage of time before that ignoramus accomplishes anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobo97 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 42 minutes ago, Sportsfanatic1 said: These people are so delusional, yet they want to call us bigots for not accepting their delusions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion7000 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 1 hour ago, Lobo97 said: Climate change isn’t fake, but it’s also not controllable by man. Yes better answer! You are absolutely correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryLaverty Posted July 2, 2023 Author Share Posted July 2, 2023 2 hours ago, Lobo97 said: Climate change isn’t fake, but it’s also not controllable by man. That's just ridiculous head in the sand nonsense. If man causes it, then then are solutions man can come up with to address it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobo97 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 55 minutes ago, BarryLaverty said: That's just ridiculous head in the sand nonsense. If man causes it, then then are solutions man can come up with to address it. What’s ridiculous is believing that man creates the weather. This isn’t Geostorm. Then again, you believe a person can choose their gender too, so why am I not surprised. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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