Time Magazine reports that Texas is the biggest contributing area for carbon in the United States. Is anyone really surprised by this? After all, the minute you drive over the Texas border you hit a wall of oil farms and pollution. The streets are crowded with the largest trucks I’ve ever seen. The little bits of shoreline they have are swarmed with motorized watercraft. And the state is so damned big you HAVE to use a vehicle to get anywhere (goodness forbid they look into an over-glorified, under planned lightrail system like us Phoenicians have, but that’s a whole other rant)! Look at the facts. Again, I’m left wondering how much time, effort and money went into yet another study on stating the obvious? Here’s what the researcher’s had to say:

“The headquarters state of America’s oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The amount is more than that of California and Pennsylvania — the second- and third-ranking states — combined.

A multitude of factors contribute to the carbon output, among them: Texas’ 19 coal-burning power plants; a heavy concentration of refineries and chemical plants; a lack of mass transit; and a penchant among ranchers and urban cowboys alike for brawny, gas-guzzling trucks — sometimes to haul things, but often just to look Texas tough.”

Well, thank you Captain Obvious… I feel a little more informed today.