AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — The director of Texas Baptists' ethics organization has called for Baptists in the state to lobby public officials not to open 18 proposed coal-fired power plants that would dump tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
Suzii Paynter, director of the Texas Christian Life Commission, said Christians have a responsibility to care for the environment. And the need is especially acute in Texas, where power plants produce more pollution than in any other state in the nation.
Gov. Rick Perry is attempting to fast-track 18 proposed coal-fired power plants in the state, which annually would emit an additional 78 million tons of carbon dioxide — considered the primary cause of global warming. That is more than double the carbon dioxide currently emitted by the energy provider TXU.
Opponents to the plan are concerned that pollutants cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses in children. Power-plant emissions also have been linked to heart attacks, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and death.
The CLC is urging churches to contact elected officials and ask them to slow down the planning process so the impact of the plants can be thoroughly studied.
God has given the earth as a gift of creation, Paynter said. “When we are in his world, when we are near the things he has created, we are then connecting ourselves with a deep heritage of honoring God's creation.”
“Christ calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to serve the least of these,” Paynter said. “We must protect our children, the elderly and God's creation by encouraging our leaders to choose cleaner power sources and a more economically sound path.”
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