Environmental event questions climate change, discusses new legislation

The disagreements were courteous, but distinct at the Texas Tribune’s environmental event at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Sept. 28. Four panelists discussed “The Environment: The Next Five Years” as part of a conversation series the Texas Tribune is sponsoring around the state. 
The Texas Tribune is a non-partisan, nonprofit media organization which holds forums and posts news coverage online at texastribune.org.
The event was hosted by TAMU-CC in the Anchor Ballroom at the University Center and featured State Representative Geanie Morrison, (R-Victoria) and chairwoman of the House Environmental Regulation Committee; Toby Baker, commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; John Hall, Texas state director of Clean Energy at the Environmental Defense Fund; and Mike Wetz, associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences, TAMU-CC. 
Moderator Evan Smith, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune, kept the conversation rolling through a discussion of the most important environmental issues to come out of the 84th legislative session earlier this year. The first snag came when both Morrison and Baker agreed that it was a bill streamlining the permitting process for energy companies to obtain air quality permits for power plants.
Morrison explained that Texas was falling behind other Gulf states when it came to attracting new industry because of a complicated process for obtaining air quality permits from the TCEQ. 
“In Louisiana, it’s a six-month process,” Morrison said. “It took us much longer.” 
As a commissioner of the TCEQ, Baker agreed. 
“The process could get strung out for months and months,” Baker said. “We needed to bring that time down a little bit — set some boundaries.”
Several members of the audience disagreed, which became apparent during a Q & A session at the end of the event. 
“I am one of the people who fought the Las Brisas dirty plant,” said Carolyn Moon, who is on the board of the Coastal Bend Sierra Club. “We were able to fight against it because the company had to prove that their plan was going to be all clean and squeaky. Now the law says I have to come up with the scientists and things to show the plan is bad. How is that possible?” Las Brisas was a $3 billion petroleum coke power plant proposed for the Port of Corpus Christi. The project was suspended in 2013 after sustained protests by groups voicing concerns about air pollution.
Morrison and Baker attempted to reassure Moon that the balance of power had not tipped in favor of companies. Hall interjected that he hoped the legislature would look at the situation next session (2017) and improve the law by encouraging companies to work more closely with citizens. Moon was not reassured.
“We spent 18 months to stop that plant,” she told Corpus Christi Business News after the meeting. “Now they say we have only six months. And we have to come up with the resources. How can a citizen’s group afford that?”

CLIMATE CHANGE ARGUED

The next controversy came up when Smith asked each panel member his or her opinion on climate change. 
“Is it a settled matter?” Smith asked.
Morrison’s answer created a stir in the audience, which occurred again when Baker took his turn at a response.
“There are many different interpretations,” Morrison said. “I’m not convinced of one or the other. It depends on who you talk to. It depends on which scientist you talk to. It is not a settled topic.”
While Baker said he believed some change is going on, he said the data did not always match the models.
“A lot of this is being driven by models that show very dramatic increases in temperature, but when you look the actual data, it doesn’t match the models,” he said. “I believe that it [climate change] is possible, but there are absolutely gaps in the data.”
Both Hall and Wetz stated emphatically that climate change is a real problem that must be addressed. Each received a round of applause from the audience. 
“For the benefit of our children and grandchildren, we should make it a top priority,” Hall said. 
“This is my area of study,” Wetz pointed out. “It is a settled topic. The real debate is what to do about it, not whether it is a problem.”
After the meeting, Venice Scheurich, secretary of the Coastal Bend Sierra Club, expressed her disappointment in what she heard. 
“I’ve been to so many of these things, and it seems it’s more of the usual,” she said. “The environmental statements are being countered by industry statements without a clear direction toward resolution.”
A video of the event can be found online at texastribune.org, under Texas Tribune Events section. The next event, which will be Oct. 6 at the Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, will address “Criminal Justice: The Next Five Years.” On Oct. 7, “A Conversation on God and Governing” will be held at the LBJ Library in Austin. The annual Texas Tribune Festival will be held at the University of Texas at Austin Oct. 16-18.