News
Climate Resolution Voted Down in El Paso After Oil and Gas Interests Pour More Than $1 Million into Opposition
Sunrise El Paso’s grassroots campaign was not enough to overcome the influence of a monopoly utility and fossil fuel companies at the ballot box.
By Martha Pskowski
Voters in El Paso resoundingly rejected a ballot proposition that would have set the city on the path to 100 percent renewable energy and explored municipalization of the local electric utility.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
State of Play
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”