Exerting Sovereignty for the Lone Star State

Texas Governor Rick Perry, joined his friend former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, in denouncing the Obama administration's participation in the Global Warming Summit in Copenhagen.

From The Hill, Dec. 16:

Perry speaks up. Last week he wrote a letter to the EPA asking it to withdraw its finding that greenhouse gases threaten Americans, alleging the findings are based on manipulated data. Sarah Palin opposed points of the Copenhagen agreements as well, with an editorial in The Washington Post.

In a strongly worded three page letter to EPA Director Lisa Jackson, Perry asked that the EPA completely retract its recent finding that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is a public threat. Perry stated that the science was not conclusive.

From the Houston Chronicle, Dec. 9:

"Using uncertain and highly questionable science to institute volumes of onerous new regulations on employers who have never before been subject to EPA regulation is unprecedented and shows a real disregard for the preservation of American jobs, as well as families and businesses struggling to make ends meet."

At a press conference in LaPorte (near Houston), surrounded by political and industrial leaders, Perry further stressed the importance of jobs to the Texas economy. The Chronicle noted:

The oil and chemical plants employ nearly 270,000 people and pay billions of dollars in state and local taxes.

The state's energy industry supplies 20 percent of the nation's oil production, one-third of its natural gas production, a quarter of its refining capacity and about 60 percent of its chemical manufacturing.

Perry has been garnering a great deal of attention as of late for his increasingly controversial remarks. Some have suggested that the Governor is going all out for Sovereignty. At a recent dinner of the Collins County Republican Party Perry remarked (Lewisville Leader):

"The Cap and Trade bill will be a disaster to the Southern states and Texas in particular," he said.

He continued: "There is a lack of courage in Washington, D.C.... If we are Republicans, then we are going to act like Republicans."