Pollution Causes Drought in Texas

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Drought in Texas is of great concern, today, and this essay will focus on pollution as the cause of Texas drought. Coal fired electric generating plants and vehicle emissions are the major sources of the polluting agent, hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons are affecting the weather patterns in our state which result in extended periods of drought. When hydrocarbons are burned, it causes all sorts of problems. If it is pure hydrocarbon and is burned completely, it releases CO2 which is a green house gas. Texas leads the nation in CO2 emissions which has resulted in weather change from adequate rain to drought conditions. Texas emits about 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse-gas, more than any other state, according to Kim Chapman in BusinessWeek earlier this year. If Texas were a country it would be the world’s eighth-largest polluter.

Coal has been used as a fuel source since 1819. Since that time, the population has grown three fold. During this period, industry in our state, and residential growth in our state, have also grown by leaps and bounds requiring more electricity. Our government has chosen coal to fire these generating plants, and there are fifteen plants in Texas. By 2005, Texas ranked third in the nation in coal-fired power production as published by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality . The tons of hydrocarbons emitting from these plants have been scientifically proven to change our Texas weather patterns .

Texas has more coal-fired electrical capacity than any state in the U.S. Burning coal releases a tremendous amount of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere creating ozone trapping heat on the surface of the earth. A green house effect results, which provides global warming not only affecting ...

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...emitted a total of nearly 260 million pounds of carbon dioxide giving the same amount of global warming pollution in a year as 45 million of today’s cars emit in a year. There are over 30 million cars in the state of Texas, alone. The use of coal as a source to turn the turbines that generate electric power in the state of Texas must be held to a very strict standard for controlling the emission of hydrocarbons. The people in Texas must realize our inability to regulate coal fired plants along with tremendous growth in use of gasoline and diesel engines with continue to contribute to Texas drought. By examining these two major causes of Texas pollution, burning coal and vehicle emissions, Texas citizens must take a more personal responsibility in the effort to find solutions to balance the need of providing power plants and using fuel in their daily lives.

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