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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Climate change is a complex issue with important |
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implications for economic stability, national security, and public |
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health for future generations of Texans; and |
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WHEREAS, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in |
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his confirmation hearing, acknowledged the "complex issue" of |
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climate change; he stated: "I came to my personal position over |
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about 20 years as an engineer and a scientist, [and] understanding |
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the evolution of the science, came to the conclusion a few years ago |
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the risk of climate change does exist, and that the consequences |
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could be serious enough that action should be taken"; and |
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WHEREAS, In February 2017, the Climate Leadership Council |
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released a compelling report outlining the conservative case for |
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addressing climate change; the international research and advocacy |
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group's members include one of the Lone Star State's most respected |
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native sons, former U.S. secretary of state James Baker, as well as |
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members of the Ronald Reagan administration and both Bush |
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administrations, namely Martin Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw, |
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former chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, |
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Henry M. Paulson Jr., former secretary of the treasury, George P. |
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Shultz, former secretary of state, and Thomas Stephenson, former |
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ambassador to Portugal and now a partner at Sequoia Capital; the |
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organization's other members are Rob Walton, longtime chair of |
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Walmart, and Ted Halstead, founder, president, and CEO of the |
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Climate Leadership Council and founder of the New America think |
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tank; and |
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WHEREAS, The council's report states that evidence of climate |
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change is too powerful to ignore; although the extent of human |
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influence on climate is debated, the risks posed are such that the |
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world needs a kind of "insurance policy," the authors warn; climate |
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solutions based on sound economic analysis would build prosperity, |
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benefit working Americans, reduce regulations, and protect our |
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natural heritage; and |
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WHEREAS, In the Reagan era, economists conducted a |
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cost-benefit analysis to assess the risks of the growing hole in the |
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ozone layer, and the president then threw his weight behind a |
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landmark treaty, the Montreal Protocol, which implemented a |
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pragmatic, market-based solution to the environmental problem; |
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Mr. Baker, Mr. Shultz, and the other members of the Climate |
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Leadership Council support a similar conservative, |
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limited-government approach to climate change, and economists of |
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diverse viewpoints today concur that the economic benefits of |
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grappling with climate change greatly outweigh the costs; for |
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instance, while no single natural disaster can be attributed to |
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climate change, it has increased the risk of catastrophic events |
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such as Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Rita, and |
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Hurricane Katrina, which affected the entire Gulf Coast region; in |
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2016, the National Centers for Environmental Information recorded |
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15 weather and climate disaster events that each exceeded $1 |
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billion in costs, the largest being the Louisiana flooding and |
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Hurricane Matthew, which both inflicted an estimated $10 billion in |
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damage; and |
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WHEREAS, Many of the nation's leaders have spoken out about |
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the need to address climate change, including former vice president |
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Al Gore, who said, "Solutions to the climate crisis are within |
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reach, but in order to capture them we must take urgent action today |
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across every level of society"; former president Barack Obama |
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stated that "the shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen |
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overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the |
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debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our |
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children's children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could |
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to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of |
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energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did"; another former |
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president, Bill Clinton, explained that "climate change is more |
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remote than terror but a more profound threat to the future of the |
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children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren I hope |
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all of you have. . . . It's the only thing we face today that has |
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the power to remove the preconditions of civilized society"; and |
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WHEREAS, Climate change will negatively impact agriculture, |
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coastal cities, and political stability in already-volatile |
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regions of the world, and such developments could imperil our |
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American way of life; leaders in Washington, D.C., should |
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investigate how best to mitigate the dangers to ensure a stable, |
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prosperous future for the generations to come, for as the current |
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U.S. secretary of defense, General James Mattis, declared, "Climate |
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change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops |
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are operating today"; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to conduct a |
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cost-benefit analysis regarding the risks of climate change and |
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appropriate measures to address those risks; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |