On the presidential campaign trail, both Barack Obama and John McCain said they would champion federal measures that cap emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.

But with "global warming" a radioactive term in the Texas Legislature, state lawmakers in the coming session are expected to constrain their response to environmental issues to a series of measures that encourage consumers to buy efficient appliances and build more efficient houses.

The energy and environment issue is at the crux of the state's industrial and demographic future. Home to manufacturing and oil refining facilities up and down the Gulf Coast, Texas is the nation's No. 1 carbon dioxide emitter. Meanwhile, with the state's population growing by as much as 50 percent by 2030, utilities are proposing more power plants, some of them cheap-to-produce coal plants.

Shaping policy under the dome, key lawmakers say they remain unconvinced auto and manufacturing emissions of carbon dioxide contribute to a changing climate.
The issue could pit some of the state's top Republican lawmakers against one another. On one side are Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and a host of House committee chairmen who dismiss anxieties about global warming and who torpedoed most pieces of environmental legislation in the last session. Along with industry groups, they say any kind of federal caps on carbon dioxide emissions could derail the state's economy and cost billions of dollars in compliance.

On the other side are Republicans like state Sen. Kip Averitt of Waco and likely House Speaker Joe Straus, who have indicated they think the state should try to shape the impending carbon dictate from Washington rather than criticizing it.

Straus, who served on an interim committee on electric generation capacity and environmental effects and authored an energy efficiency law last session, could appoint a phalanx of chairmen on key energy and environmental committees and expand incentives for renewable energy.

At least 12 pieces of legislation related to global warming were proposed in the last session; only one, a bill calling for a study of Rio Grande water supplies, passed.
Some Texas Democrats have said they hope to change that record. In a speech in early December, state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, told a group of venture capitalists that climate change presented the state with an opportunity to reshape its economy into one leading the way on alternative energy projects.

The state's leaders, he said, "seem more focused on waging battles against the rest of the nation, against the world, in an effort to hold back the future racing toward us."

This session, at least two measures, both filed by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, aim to address global warming.

One sets up a fund to pay for "green job" training, or jobs related to energy-efficient building, biofuels, home energy efficiency assessments, and the manufacturing of sustainable products; the other orders the state to emit no more greenhouse gases in 2023 than it did in 1990.
But interviews with key lawmakers suggest little hope for global warming measures, especially ones that make no effort to disguise themselves as such.

"That term is contentious and off-putting to some people," state Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco, who is a member of the select committee on energy capacity and the environment. He said the global warming debate remains unresolved.

Actually, consensus among many scientists holds that Earth's climate is gradually warming, in part because of humanmade emissions of carbon dioxide.
Perry has signaled opposition to limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

Instead, Republican leaders say they will propose measures that encourage the manufacture and purchase of energy-efficient home appliances and toughen building codes to make homes more efficient.

Likely speaker Straus, who authored a measure last session that set up a sales tax holiday for energy efficient appliances, said "there's going to be more interest and engagement in the environment."

But some Republicans said they would also call for a panoply of tax breaks and subsidies for the construction of not just wind turbines and solar panels, but also conventional forms of generation like coal-fired power plants.

"We need all of it," said state Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, who chaired the Energy Resources Committee last session.

But some lawmakers said they think Texas should start preparing for federal caps on carbon emissions.
"Texas is making a big mistake in not being at the table when those issues are being discussed in Washington, D.C.," said Averitt, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Averitt said he would propose a bill that could stiffen building codes and appliance standards and offer incentives to retire old air conditioners and refrigerators for newer, energy-efficient ones. But he said he would not support any state proposal that limits carbon emissions in Texas because "if it provides a competitive advantage in the other 49 states, I'm not interested in that."

Straus said the state should bide its time as the federal government decides whether to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

"The federal government will be more aggressive in this area, so the wise thing to do would be to give it a little bit of time, to see what the appropriate reaction from a Texas standpoint will be," he said.