Abbott promises to fight Biden on climate change

Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Thursday to fight the Biden administration’s climate change agenda, calling it a direct threat to the state’s energy sector.

“Texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack launched from Washington, D.C.,” he said after a roundtable meeting with industry leaders in Odessa.

The Republican governor announced that he had directed state agencies to immediately begin looking for opportunities to sue over new environmental regulations, and he said he wants legislation passed in Austin that bans cities and counties from prohibiting natural gas appliances. Some Democratic-led cities in other states have moved to regulate gas appliances in new buildings.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed several executive orders aimed at reversing the Trump administration’s environmental record, implementing a pause on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and declaring climate change a national security concern.