Recently in the City of El Paso, a group of climate change activists called Sunrise El Paso wrote a “climate charter” calling for the city to “use all available resources and authority” to limit its use of fossil fuels.
Sunrise El Paso is a self-described “radical” activist organization and a branch of the National Sunrise Movement, which promotes the “Green New Deal” and ending the “climate crisis.” The National Sunrise Movement receives funding from Democrat organizations, including liberal billionaire George Soros’ political action committee Democracy PAC, the Tides Foundation, and Grove Action Fund.
We have seen a number of measures this legislative session intending to rein in woke, leftist local governments that seek to impose their radical agendas on local businesses and interfere with free enterprise. Calling for a charter limiting reliable and cheap energy to Texas would be a disaster.
Texas Scorecard also wrote about the possible impact of these dangerous policies:
An economic impact assessment of the charter commissioned by the EPC highlighted the potential risks of a “full-scale abolishment” of fossil fuel energy sources.
The assessment reported that if citizens approve the climate charter, the city will lose 170,000 jobs and $7.9 billion in profits by 2030, with the average El Paso household’s income of $51,000 shrinking by $38,800. The city would also be on track to lose 69 percent of its available energy by 2030 and 72 percent by 2045.
Although the EPC expressed support for using “sustainable” measures to grow the community, they condemned the charter’s potential economic impacts.
“The passage of the Climate Charter, as shown by the Economic Impact Analysis, would bring our economy to a screeching halt and roll back decades of investment – across all industries,” wrote the EPC. “The El Paso Chamber believes wholeheartedly action must be taken to move toward a sustainable future. However, we cannot, in good conscience, support an amendment that has the potential to put thousands of El Pasoans at risk of losing their jobs and livelihoods.”
House Bill 4930, authored by Republican State Rep. Tom Craddick (Midland), seeks to preempt insane, economy-killing policies like the one in El Paso. The legislation requires that before a charter or an amendment to a charter is brought to a vote, it has to be approved by a state agency.
This legislation comes in a legislative session when lawmakers are doing everything they can to rein in the lawless and anti-free enterprise leftist policies we have seen over the last few years in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns. HB 4930 also has a Senate companion, Senate Bill 1860 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola). Both bills are set for a public hearing on Wednesday, April 19, and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) is in support of both versions. We hope to see them make it to the governor’s desk by the end of the legislative session.
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