BUT WHAT ABOUT TEXAS? CLIMATE DISRUPTION REGULATION IN RECALCITRANT STATES

The State of Texas has had a long history of resistance to federal environmental regulation. For most of the past forty years, Texas's political leadership has been far more concerned about the negative impact that environmental regulation could have on economic growth than with the effects that pollutants could have on human beings and the global environment. The state's environmental protection agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has historically taken the position that its highly qualified staff is capable of achieving the Clean Air Act's environmental goals with little oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This essay will recount the history of EPA's efforts to deal with a recalcitrant state bureaucracy and EPA-bashing political leaders as EPA attempted to reduce GHG emissions in a state that emitted more GHGs than any other state. It will then offer some observations on the impact of UARG on the future of GHG regulation in Texas.