Harris County is once again trying to insert itself into federal policy issues. The Harris County Attorney has signed on to a lawsuit against the EPA regarding a climate change warning from 2009.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the EPA has moved to kill a study on greenhouse gases that found the federal government needs to regulate climate-warming emissions. Harris County is now joining a group of counties and states in asking the courts to block the study.
One of the biggest questions here is what exactly this has to do with Harris County and why our money should be spent on it. According to Charles Blain with the Urban Reform Institute, not much. “This is just another opportunity to put out a press release and hold a press conference to show how upset they are with the fact that the federal government is doing what they want with federal policy,” he explained.
Essentially, Blain believes the whole purpose of this is to use the County Attorney’s office as a political springboard to launch a future career. “Typically, it has been kind of a sleepy role, and this is a new opportunity to breathe new life into it—just like Lina Hidalgo did with her county judge seat,” he said.
Blain also pointed out that just a few years ago, questions were being raised about the county budget, and now we are wasting money that we don’t have on this suit.