Jun
9
Written by:
Mark Lavergne
6/9/2009 3:29 PM
Gov. Rick Perry confirmed today that there will indeed be a special session during a meeting with state leaders about how Texas will handle federal legislation that would look to massively regulate CO2 gases.
Perry said he was currently in the process of deciding exactly when a special would be, declining to say whether it would be called by September. "We now are to a point where we can say that there will be a special session," Perry told the press. "When is still a little bit up in the air, and we will notify you ASAP." He will announce what issues will be included on the call when he announces when the session will convene, he told reporters.
In the meantime, Perry continued his criticism of proposed environmental policies in Washington, particularly the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill. He said that there were "some real threats to the Texas economy" in the proposed regulations, particularly in its impact on electricity prices.
"What they're discussing could wreck our traditional energy industry and put a very serious dent in our economy," Perry said, lamenting that the impending federal regulations would put Texas at a competitive disadvantage.
He said he was glad that the federal government was holding public hearings across the country, but said that one should be held in Texas, which he called "the nation's energy capitol." If it did it would remind them that Texas is the leader in energy production, both renewable and traditional he said. He pointed out that from 2000-2008 Texas achieved a 22 percent reduction in ozone, and did so by providing incentives, not be the "heavy hand of regulation."
He called the proposed cap and trade law the "largest tax increase in the history of our country," saying it would affect every Texas household, and every American that uses any source of energy would see their energy bills go up.
Public Utility Commission chairman Barry Smitherman, Comptroller Susan Combs, and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams expounded on Perry's grim prognostications of how Waxman-Markey could impact the Texas economy.
Smitherman cited an analysis of the Lieberman-Warner legislation from 2005 (which was less ambitious than Waxman-Markey), showing that it would have caused electric prices to go up 300 percent.
Combs predicted 164,000 jobs lost, and $25 billion in gross state product lost annually, and $30 billion lost in real disposable income. She said the net impact would be felt across the United States because Texas is the "kitchen of the country," the place where energy is produced for much of the rest of the country.
Williams said that the bill would cover thousands if not millions of facilities nationwide that are charged with producing energy for citizens.