Strong storms damage Texas State Capitol building

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5784448.html

Link: Strong storms damage state Capitol | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle.

May 15, 2008, 11:50PM

Strong storms damage state Capitol

Windows blown out in the dome; trees uprooted

Associated Press

AUSTIN — Severe storms knocked down several large trees at the state Capitol and blew out windows in the dome.

Seven trees, including a large live oak, were uprooted and destroyed, and more than a dozen others took light to heavy damage in the storms that pummeled central Austin with heavy rain, hail and strong winds late Wednesday night and early Thursday.

Workers were trying to determine which trees can still be saved, said Julie Fields, spokeswoman for the state Preservation Board.

"It's just gut-wrenching to see," Fields said, adding that large areas of the Capitol grounds will remain closed to pedestrians while workers remove fallen trees that pose be a safety hazard.

The storm blew out windows on the fifth floor of the Capitol dome, Fields said.

The windows were not made of glass original to the building.

The broken glass left shards in the rotunda and damaged the portrait of Albert Horton, the state's first lieutenant governor....

(((In other Texas gubernatorial news, Al Gore's warnings are the worst things about climate change. Still, Governor Perry? Really?
Every day another Republican leaves the climate-denial bandwagon.)))

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=153281162008

Texas Is Biggest Carbon Polluter

by: April Castro 16 January 2008

Everything's big in Texas — big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state's big carbon footprint, too.

Texans' fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

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.

(...)

"While states such as like California and New York are moving quickly to address global warming, the issue has prompted only scattered calls for reforms here. GOP leaders in Texas have refused to make emissions reduction a priority, and Republican Gov. Rick Perry has expressed doubt as to whether global warming is even a manmade problem. With all the don't-mess-with-Texas swagger he can muster, Perry has called Al Gore's mouth the leading source of carbon dioxide.

As for the state's greenhouse gas ranking, Perry's administration makes no apologies.

"Being that Texas is a heavily populated state, that it is the leading producer of energy, has the largest refining capacity and has the largest petrochemical industry in the nation, it would be expected that we would have the largest total of greenhouse gases in the country," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

Texas, the second most populous state, behind California, has 23.5 million people and more than 20 million registered vehicles, about one in four of them a pickup truck. California has a population of 36.5 million and 33 million registered vehicles.

Transportation accounted for 28 percent of Texas' carbon emissions in 2003.

Texas consumes more coal than any other state....

((Imagine being *inside the Capitol* trying to pass right-wing anti-climate legislation *while* the windows are being blasted out by record-setting chunks of hail.)))

(((Have a look at a few of those babies.)))

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=208858&SecID=2