Texas: Difference between revisions

{{As of|2017}}, Texas emitted the most [[greenhouse gas]]es in the U.S.<ref name="eia17">{{cite web |title=Rankings: Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2017 |url=https://www.eia.gov/state/rankings/?sid=TX#/series/226 |publisher=U.S. Energy Information Administration |access-date=January 14, 2020 |date=2017}}</ref> {{As of|2017}} the state emits about {{convert|707|e6t|e9lb|abbr=off|sp=us|order=flip}} of carbon dioxide annually.<ref name="eia17" /> As an independent state, Texas would rank as the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases.<ref name="GH2">{{cite news |title=Texas No. 1 producer of greenhouse gases |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/060307dnnatemissions.3c1df3a.html |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=The Dallas Morning News |date=June 3, 2007 |access-date=June 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919052620/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/060307dnnatemissions.3c1df3a.html |archive-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref> Causes of the state's vast greenhouse gas emissions include the state's large number of [[Fossil fuel power plant|coal power plants]] and the state's refining and manufacturing industries.<ref name="GH2" /> In 2010, there were 2,553 "emission events" which poured {{convert|44.6|e6lb|t|abbr=off|sp=us}} of contaminants into the Texas sky.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=January 16, 2021|title=Living, and coughing, downwind of Texas smoke stacks|url=https://phys.org/news/2011-11-downwind-texas-stacks.html|website=phys.org|agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref>

With large universities systems coupled with initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the [[Texas Emerging Technology Fund]], a wide array of different [[high tech]] industries have developed in Texas. The Austin area is nicknamed the "[[Silicon Hills]]" and the north Dallas area the "[[Silicon Prairie]]". Many high-tech companies are located in or have their headquarters in Texas (and [[List of companies based in Austin, Texas|Austin in particular]]), including [[Dell]], Inc.,<ref>{{cite web|last=Kanellos|first=Michael|title=Dell shifts base back to Round Rock|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/dell-shifts-base-back-to-round-rock/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=CNET}}</ref> [[Borland]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Clarke|first=Gavin|title=Borland bails out of California, moves HQ to Austin, TX|url=https://www.theregister.com/2007/04/17/borland_leaves_valley/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=theregister.com}}</ref> [[Forcepoint]],<ref>{{cite web|date=February 6, 2014|title=Websense gets $4.5M to move to Texas|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/economy/sdut-texas-austin-perry-jobs-economy-websense-2014feb06-htmlstory.html|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]]|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Indeed.com]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Indeed opens new North Austin office, 1,000 new jobs planned|url=https://www.kvue.com/article/money/business/indeed-opens-new-north-austin-office-1000-new-jobs-planned/269-67902537|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=kvue.com|date=March 4, 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Texas Instruments]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=McKellop|first=Mario|date=May 26, 2020|title=Texas Instruments starts construction on Dallas plant|url=https://www.theburnin.com/industry/texas-instruments-begins-construction-dallas-factory-2020-5/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=The Burn-In|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Perot Systems]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Dell sells Perot Systems IT services division to Dallas firm|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/techflash/2016/03/dell-sells-perot-systems-it-services-division-to.html#:~:text=NTT%20Data%20Corp.%20has%20inked,in%20the%20works%20last%20month.&text=John%20McCain,%20CEO%20of%20NTT,will%20lead%20the%20combined%20company.|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=bizjournals.com}}</ref> [[Rackspace]] and [[AT&T]].<ref>{{cite web|date=July 21, 2014|title=Rackspace to Move into Former Texas Shopping Mall … Again|url=https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2014/07/21/rackspace-to-use-another-texas-mall-as-office-real-estate|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=Data Center Knowledge}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=June 30, 2008|title=AT&T Making a Move (Published 2008)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/technology/30phone.html|access-date=December 28, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=AT&T to move headquarters to Dallas|date=June 27, 2008 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25417174|access-date=December 28, 2020|publisher=[[NBC News]]}}</ref>

The [[2003 Texas redistricting]] of Congressional districts led by Republican [[Tom DeLay]], was called by ''The New York Times'' "an extreme case of partisan [[gerrymandering]]".<ref name="NYTGerry">{{cite news |title=The Texas Gerrymander |work=The New York Times |date=March 1, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/opinion/01wed2.html}}</ref> A group of Democratic legislators, the "Texas Eleven", fled the state in a [[quorum]]-busting effort to prevent the legislature from acting, but was unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ridder |first=Knight |title=11 Texas Senate Democrats Take Cue from House, Bolt to Avoid Redistricting |work=Houston Chronicle |date=July 29, 2003 |url=https://www.allbusiness.com/government/elections-politics-politics-political-parties/10366221-1.html |access-date=January 7, 2009}}{{dead link|date=January 2011}}</ref> The state had already redistricted following the 2000 census. Despite these efforts, the legislature passed a map heavily in favor of Republicans, based on 2000 data and ignoring the estimated nearly one million new residents in the state since then. Career attorneys and analysts at the Department of Justice objected to the plan as diluting the votes of African American and Hispanic voters, but political appointees overrode them and approved it.<ref name="NYTGerry" /> Legal challenges to the redistricting reached the national [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in the case ''[[League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry]]'' (2006), but the court ruled in favor of the state (and Republicans).<ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/washington/28cnd-scotus.html |title=Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts |work=The New York Times|date=June 28, 2006}}</ref>