Job losses would kill green deal for Houstonians

Over 60 percent of Houston Democrats said they would oppose the Green New Deal if it means layoffs in the oil and gas industry, according to a new University of Houston poll.

The poll published this week asked Texas Democrats whether they would support the legislation given its potential effects, including the elimination of oil and gas drilling in the U.S. by 2035. While 58.9 percent of Houston Democrats said they would still support the deal if it eliminated oil and gas drilling in Texas, when asked about job losses that support fell to 37.2 percent.

Overall, 52.2 percent of Texas Democrats said they would oppose the deal if it meant a loss of oil and gas jobs.

“Voters from the Houston area were less likely to name climate change as a top priority than those from elsewhere in the state, and perhaps not surprisingly, they were less likely to favor the Green New Deal if it results in widespread layoffs in the energy industry,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist with the Baker Institute at Rice University and a senior research associate at the University

of Houston.

The poll was conducted for the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs through an online survey of 1,352 likely Texas Democrat primary voters and has a margin of error of 2.75 percentage points.

Houston is home to 125,000 employees working directly in oil and gas production, according to the Texas Oil & Gas Association.

Texas Democrats in Congress have declined to join their more progressive colleagues on proposals like the Green New Deal.

Most recently, U.S. Reps. Lizzie Fletcher of Houston and Henry Cuellar of Laredo slammed a proposal to ban hydraulic fracking.

U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, another Houston Democrat, said in a statement to Hearst Newspapers that she is “open to greater regulation of oil and gas production techniques such as fracking.”

“However I am cognizant that fracking, and the shale gas that it has produced, have played a critical role in reducing coal use from 50% of our electricity mix to less than 25% today,” she said. “I want to make sure that any action in this area doesn’t slow the elimination of coal use in this country.”