The Light Bulb Goes On In TX: No Water Equals No Economy (But No Mention Of Climate)
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Already the drought has led to consideration of wild, expensive ideas, like piping water hundreds of miles from the Missouri River to the parched Colorado River basin. Water traditionally has been mostly a state or local issue because communities draw supplies from nearby rivers or aquifers. But increasingly it is becoming a national one. Economies will rise and fall on the availability of water, whose price is inexorably marching upward. Litigation and rural-urban water conflicts are likely to intensify throughout the West and Midwest.
“Texas does not and will not have enough water” in a bad drought, the state’s water plan warned last year. More than two dozen communities could run out of water in 180 days, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Looking ahead, the already-dry western half of the state is expected to be hit particularly hard by climate change. State leaders generally accept such projections, even as they question the scientific consensus that humans are a major cause of climate change.
Officials from Gov. Rick Perry on down are focused on expanding water supplies. Doing nothing could create “a reputation that Texas is not a business-friendly state,” State Representative Lyle Larson, a Republican, warned fellow lawmakers last month. Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, agrees. “Clearly, not having an adequate water supply will harm us in terms of bringing jobs to Texas and is doing so now, already,” he said recently.
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Midland, an arid West Texas town at the epicenter of the current oil boom, had never imposed watering restrictions until a few years ago. Residents liked coming home to green lawns after a day in the dusty oil fields. Watering rules smacked of big government. Then drought caused reservoir levels to drop alarmingly. Midland imposed sharp restrictions on outdoor watering and hiked rates, albeit temporarily, on water hogs. Other innovations are on the way: a project to turn sewage into potable water will soon bolster Midland’s drinking supplies, a concept that has drawn interest from around the state and nation.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/sunday-review/getting-serious-about-a-texas-size-drought.html?_r=0
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http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/let_the_bastards_freeze_in_the_dark_drive_80_mph_and_freeze_a_yankee/
“Let the bastards freeze in the dark” & “Drive 80 mph and freeze a Yankee”
"Let the bastards freeze in the dark” (or “Let the Yankee bastards freeze in the dark” or “Let them freeze in the dark"
and “Drive 80 mph and freeze a Yankee” (or “Drive 90 mph and freeze a Yankee” or “Drive fast and freeze a Yankee" were bumper stickers that were popular in Texas during the 1973-74 energy crisis.
The bumper sticker “Let them freeze in the dark” appears to have started by a Wyoming company in February 1973. Energy prices were rising, but toughened environmental laws prevented finding more energy sources. The “them” were the environmentalists.
Texans had other reasons (besides environmental restrictions on energy) for “freezing Yankees” in 1973-74. Federal regulations had required supplying Northeast customers with oil and natural gas at regulated prices. Also, Northeast politicians had suggested that Texans should have conserved energy during this out-of-state energy giveaway. The “Drive 80 mph and freeze a Yankee” bumper stickers were popular in Houston at this time.
Wikipedia: 1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC, consisting of the Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) announced, as a result of the ongoing Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt (the United States, its allies in Western Europe, and Japan).
The same time, OPEC members agreed to use their leverage over the world price-setting mechanism for oil in order to raise world oil prices, after the failure of negotiations with the “Seven Sisters” earlier in the month. Because of the dependence of the industrialized world on crude oil and the predominant role of OPEC as a global supplier, these price increases were dramatically inflationary to the economies of the targeted countries, while at the same time suppressive of economic activity. The targeted countries responded with a wide variety of new, and mostly permanent, initiatives to contain their further dependency.
5 February 1973, Billings (MT) Gazette, pg. 2, col. 6 ad:
Bumper Stickers for Sale!
FOR LIGHTS & HEAT
TURN OFF
THE ECOLOGY FREAKS!
LET THEM FREEZE IN THE DARK
ORDER FROM KINTZEL’S, P. O. Box 741, Cooper, WYOMING 82601
