Texas Coastal Water Temps Up 3F In 30 Yrs - More Coal, Says Gov. Goodhair

[hatrack]

DALLAS - Evidence of global trouble lurks in the bays of coastal Texas. The brackish water that circulates between marshes and barrier islands - water that has sheltered and nourished a rich soup of marine life for millennia - is changing, and fast. During the past three decades, the water in Texas' coastal bays has warmed by 3 degrees Fahrenheit. The state scientist who discovered that big increase says it is not proof alone of global warming on home shores, but it is worrisome.

Texas, however, is as much a global warming culprit as it is a victim. Already No. 1 among all U.S. states in greenhouse gas emissions and seventh worldwide - emitting more than Canada or the United Kingdom - Texas could be about to sanction enormous increases in the carbon dioxide it sends into the atmosphere. The approval of 16 new power plants that burn coal, by far the most carbon-intensive fuel for making electricity, would add an estimated 117 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, more than the individual emissions from 33 other states and 177 countries.

Still, Texas has no formal strategy on global warming and no plans to order reductions in the carbon dioxide that the state's industries, vehicles and farms release into the atmosphere. California, by contrast, approved a bill last week to slash emissions by 2020 back to 1990 levels.

EDIT

In Texas, Perry agrees that state curbs on greenhouses gases "could dramatically harm our economy," said his press secretary, Kathy Walt. "Even those that believe that manmade greenhouse gases have an effect on global climate change understand that controls must be applied around the globe to have any net effect," she said.

EDIT

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/15498985.htm

[philb]

1. Aver. temp. increase from NOAA buoy monitoring sites off Texas

Average Temperature Increase from beginning of data period to end of period- by buoy site
(degrees Centigrade for sea surface temperatures and air tempertures)
NOAA monitoring buoy site: source: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/historical_data.shtml

Summary of average temperature increase by region and regression slope for trend (degrees C/decade)(F=9/5 C)
(Average temperature was compared for the first 3 or 4 or 6 or 8 years of period to similar period at end of data period)

Western Gulf data: www.flcv.com/Gmdata.html (other texas sites here also)
42002 S.E. of Sabine Texas

SST AT
Av 77to81 25.43 (6 years) Av 77to81 24.11
Av00to05 26.33 Av00to05 25.25
Increase 0.90 degrees C Increase 1.14 degrees C

regression SST regression AT
slope = .293 degrees/decade slope = .51 degrees/decade
Pearson r= 0.478 Pearson r= 0.69



42001 Mid Gulf S. Of New Orleans

SST Air Temp
Av77to81 25.60 (6 years) Av77to81 24.53
Av00to05 26.66 * Av00to05 25.23
Increase 1.06 degrees C Increase 0.70 degrees C

regression SST regression AT
slope = .30 degrees/decade slope = .16 degrees/decade
Pearson r = 0.564 Pearson r = 0.243


the software here mixed my spreadsheet around, but if you can't follow it the web site is
www.flcv.com/sitesum.html

[philb]

2. I understand TXU alone is planning 11 new coal plants in Texas

similar numbers planned for Florida I hear also.
Texas and Florida must have progressive govenors who keep up with science and whats going on.

[hatrack]

3. Yes, doub tless - they just LOVE the scientific method

:eyes: