Dallas Morning News Editorial: Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice


Editorial: Clean air vs. jobs is a false choice





Texas’ legal gymnastics also are odd because the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases has already been decided. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gases in auto emissions and noted that the agency must not avoid regulating those emissions, as the Bush administration had done, unless it showed a scientific reason for refusing to act.

In December, the EPA moved a step closer to making new rules to restrict these emissions when it issued a finding that manmade greenhouse gases constitute a danger to health and the environment.

We don’t dispute Perry’s contention that the new greenhouse gases will impact the state’s coal-fired power plants as well as farmers and ranchers who use fossil fuels to cultivate their land and fertilize their crops. But is it not better to prepare for the future than to pretend that it will not arrive? And is it not better to take the right steps as a state to make sure new jobs are created?

In many ways, this state is less dependent on the oil and gas sector than it was 20 years, and that’s a good thing. Diversification into telecommunications and technology industries, for example, helped Texas survive past economic setbacks.

Likewise, new shifts toward a cleaner economy ultimately will create sustainable new century jobs if we don’t deny the future.

