The LyondellBasell-Houston Refining plant in Houston, Texas in 2020.
AFP /AFP via Getty Images
Big oil states like Texas and New Mexico are a microcosm of the world picture where fossil energies are giving way to renewable energies to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050. Texas is #1 in oil production in U.S. while New Mexico is ranked #2. The article linked above connects to this article below.
For the record, Texas is by far the greatest emitter of emissions at 706 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) and California is next at 358 MMtpa. All other states lie below 230 MMtpa. Emissions per capita is perhaps a better index for comparison. Texas is ranked #9, California #48, and New Mexico #13. States producing lots of fossil energy are situated near the top of this table, as expected.
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Current data on the energy transition in these two U.S. states is a mixed scorecard, and nobody is completely happy with progress. With the existing tension between energy security and climate security, politics has seeped in — and this is the topic discussed here.
Political headwinds.
There are serious threats confronting Texas and New Mexico. On one hand is the threat of losing energy security spelled out as profits from oil companies and direct or indirect jobs supported by them.
On the other hand is the threat of weather extremes caused by climate change, such as heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. Some of these are headlines in the current news: from wildfires in Canada and Greece to droughts in the Horn of Africa to rain-floods last year in Pakistan.
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Such threats can lead to calls for action, protests by people, and political intervention.
Threats of Energy security and climate security.
I Palmer
To see what’s going on in these two states, we shall discuss first, climate actions taken in Texas that assist the energy transition, and second, climate threats in Texas perceived by politicians. Then we shall apply the same approach to New Mexico.
Promising climate actions in Texas.
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• Texas as a country is #5 in the world in wind production. If you drive on Interstate 40 past Amarillo you will see 50 miles of wind turbines on both sides of the city.
• Texas is a haven for energy transition in its easy capitalization of new projects, softly-regulated infrastructure newbuilds, high concentration of engineers, and top programs of higher learning.
• Bobby Tudor, who made a mint on shale fracking, has pulled together a big-name business coalition called HETI that is dedicated to the energy transition and that includes ExxonMobil
XOM , Chevron
CVX , and Shell.
• Houston, the oil-capital of the world, could receive $250 billion/year investments in green energy sectors by 2040.
• The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has become a game changer, as a massive amount of federal money is now available to invest in renewables.
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• Just announced: Texas was awarded $600 million for projects involving direct air capture of CO2 – one of the first two recipients of $3.5 billion incentives from the IRA.
• Just announced: Occidental Petroleum, out of Texas, will buy for $1.1 billion Carbon Engineering, a company it has been closely working with for several years on direct air capture (DAC) technology. The transaction comes just days after Occidental subsidiary 1PointFive and another DAC-focused company landed $1.2 billion in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Wind turbines near Amarillo, Texas.
I Palmer
Climate threats in Texas [downplayed by some].
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• The fear of diminishing oil and gas enterprises is motivating some of the Republican-led legislature to oppose the growth of renewables, or because it’s a proxy for Democrats.
• They have introduced a raft of bills to hamper green energy but help traditional projects.
• Ten financial firms have been barred from doing business in Texas because of their ESG policies.
• It’s hard to transition energies when so much money can be made in oil and gas – up to 15% of state’s economic output at times in the past 50 years.
• If Texas refuses to give up any oil and gas profits and decides the energy transition is not what’s best for the world, the state may end up being less green and less prosperous than it could be.
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Promising climate actions in New Mexico.
• In 2019 the governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, set up goals for emissions over every economic sector to be net-zero by 2050.
• Also electricity to be 80% carbon-free by 2040. The latter is now at 65%, and this goal should be met.
• From 2021 and 2022, new regulations (strictest in US) will dramatically limit ozone and methane emissions from wells and flaring. Operators will have to capture 98% of the gas they produce by end of 2026.
• In 2023, the drilling boundaries of Chaco Canyon were extended significantly to further protect its Native American heritage.
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• The New Mexico legislature pushed for expansion of hydrogen production in New Mexico. But the bill failed because the proposal focused on blue hydrogen which is not green and not clean.
• The governor didn’t give up and has enjoined New Mexico to nearby states to acquire massive funding from the IRA for one of eight regional hydrogen hubs.
• Just announced: Maxeon Solar Technologies, out of Singapore, will construct a facility to manufacture solar cells and panels opening in Albuquerque in 2025. It will be a 3GW plant with an investment greater than $1 billion and entails 1,800 jobs. Climate threats in New Mexico [over-emphasized by some].
• Virtually the entire state was in serious drought (30-year drought) until the winter of 2022.
• One consequence of the drought in 2022 was two massive wildfires, including the state’s largest ever – the Calf Canyon / Hermit’s Peak wildfire.
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• Hydrogen production was pushed back in the legislature because it was based on blue hydrogen and therefore a distraction from the real task of reducing carbon emissions.
• Ozone and methane emissions limits were not enforced in power plants, oil refineries, and gas processing plants.
• A huge boost in production of oil and gas came from the Delaware basin. From March 2018 to March 2023 oil production almost doubled. This means more carbon emissions released in-state and more exported out-of-state.
• The state hasn’t done very well with wind, solar, and nuclear renewables – still less than 3% of total energy production. Governor Lujan Grisham has been criticized for her recent appointment to the executive committee of the U.S. Climate Alliance, for not doing enough to advance renewables.
Takeaways.
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Big oil states like Texas and New Mexico are a microcosm of the world picture where fossil energies must give way to renewable energies to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050.
Texas is the #1 oil state in U.S. and New Mexico is #2. Texas is by far the greatest carbon-emitter at 706 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) and California is next at 358 MMtpa. All other states lie below 230 MMtpa.
There are serious threats confronting Texas and New Mexico. On one hand is the threat of losing energy security spelled out as profits from oil companies and jobs supported by them. On the other hand is the threat of weather extremes caused by climate change, such as heat waves, droughts, and wildfires.
This story screams loudly how difficult it is to get top oil states to embrace an energy transition that by definition means less production of oil and gas and more production of renewable energies. But its not either/or… the answer is both/and.
If these oil states, and the world, want and need energy to continue a century of economic progress, how will they deal with the dire predictions of climate change? This is an unresolved question.
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But the injection of massive government funds within the U.S. is changing the economics of new technologies that will alter the balance between oil and gas and renewables, and oil and gas companies are joining the effort.
This editorial page admires some of the work the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has done across the country to defend speech on college campuses, regardless of politics. It’s important in a time when student mobs will shout down and physically intimidate speakers they deem offensive rather than defeat them in a debate.
But we disagree with FIRE’s attack against a new Texas law meant to install necessary guardrails around children’s social media use. Also suing Texas are the Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, two trade groups for tech companies.
No surprise there. Even tepid attempts to rein in social media platforms are met with tooth-and-nail resistance from Big Tech.
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Texas’ Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment law, however, is substantive. The SCOPE Act is supposed to take effect on Sept. 1, and it would require age verification and parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. That in itself is a significant protection, but more important, the law would force social media companies to allow parents to supervise their children’s accounts.
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Further, the SCOPE Act will require companies to limit children’s access to harmful content, such as material that promotes suicide and bullying.
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FIRE wants to turn this into a First Amendment fight. In its complaint, filed on behalf of four plaintiffs, the group argues that the law will limit the ability of children and adults to access and disseminate content “through a medium that has become essential to human communication.”
That’s a stretch for tech that hasn’t been around all that long. There was communication, much of it even good and joyful, before social media.
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What’s more, the law doesn’t ban children from social media. What it does is give parents more power to supervise their children in the digital realm, just as we expect them to do in the physical world. The idea that this is some inexcusable invasion of privacy strains credulity given what we know about social media companies. Companies like Meta have shown time and time again that their priority is profit, not children’s safety and mental health.
CCIA and NetChoice argue that their members already “engage in effective content moderation.” That they expect a court to believe that is laughable. Outlets including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have published multiple exposés about the ways that algorithms connect children with predators, even as parents use social media companies’ designated tools to report explicit material that is sent to their children. Big Tech has tried to downplay the toxic effects of its algorithms on our children, as if we cannot see the effects with our own eyes.
This isn’t about free speech. It’s about whether social media companies should continue to do what they please with our kids. The federal government may be a pushover, but Texas isn’t.
ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien was named the club’s recipient of the 2024 Heart and Hustle Award prior to Tuesday’s game vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The award — which is given out by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association — is presented annually to a player who “demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirit and traditions of the game.”
Semien is a five-time recipient (and 2023, 2021, 2019, 2016) and was chosen as the leaguewide recipient last season.
The 33-year-old’s ironman status and elite defense certify him as a worthy candidate each season. Semien has missed just two of the Rangers’ 127 games this season after he played all 162 last year. He ranks first among players leaguewide in outs above average (17), per Baseball Savant, and sixth among players leaguewide in fielding run value (plus-12).
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Semien has slashed .247/.315/.409 with 18 home runs this season and ranks second behind shortstop Corey Seager among team leaders in WAR with 3.9, according to Baseball Reference.
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Much of Texas is under a heat advisory or excessive heat warning as the state grapples with extreme heat that could break several daily record highs.
As a cold front plunges temperatures as much as 15 degrees below average across the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, the Southern Plains states will experience temperatures above normal. The heat has prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue several heat-related weather warnings.
On Tuesday morning, the NWS Weather Prediction Center warned that record-breaking heat will continue across Texas and southern Oklahoma for several more days.
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Excessive heat is expected throughout much of Texas this week. Several National Weather Service offices in the state warned of temperatures well past 100 degrees. Excessive heat is expected throughout much of Texas this week. Several National Weather Service offices in the state warned of temperatures well past 100 degrees. Getty
“Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories remain in effect and many daily record high temperatures will be possible as temperatures soar into the 90s and triple digits,” the Weather Prediction Center’s forecast said.
It continued: “Combined with the oppressive humidity, daily maximum heat indices up to 110F will be possible. This will create a dangerous situation for some groups, particularly anyone spending large amounts of time outdoors. They will be at a heightened risk of heat-related illness. Some of the heat is expected to spread into eastern New Mexico by the middle/end of the week.”
According to the NWS HeatRisk, a tool assessing the expected effects of heat in a 24-hour period, extreme heat-related impacts were expected to spread across central and northern Texas through Thursday. On Friday, the extreme impacts are expected to begin dissipating, and they will expire almost completely by the end of the weekend.
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“This level of rare and/or long-duration extreme heat with little to no overnight relief affects anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” the NWS HeatRisk said about the extreme heat. “Impacts likely in most health systems, heat-sensitive industries and infrastructure.”
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Several NWS offices in Texas warned of temperatures well past 100 degrees. Heat indexes as high as 116 degrees were forecast for the Corpus Christi region, which is one of the areas that could break a daily record high with the forecast temperatures.
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NWS meteorologist Brian Field told Newsweek that the average temperature for this time of year is 95 degrees. The NWS office in Corpus Christi has forecast temperatures up to 100. The daily record high for August 20 is 100.
“We are on track to at least tie or break it today,” Field said about the record. “There’s a pretty good chance that could happen.”
Wednesday’s temperatures could break a daily record as well.
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Field said the hot weather is caused by an area of high pressure over the Plains states. “It’s been strengthening the last couple of days and centering itself more across the central part of Texas closer to our area,” he said. “That’s allowing temperatures in the lower part of the atmosphere to really heat up.”
The NWS office in Corpus Christi advised people to stay hydrated and remain in air-conditioned rooms as much as possible during the hot weather.