"HOUSTON - A multi-billion dollar boom in petrochemical plants proposed along the U.S. Gulf Coast could pump as much greenhouse gas into the air as 131 coal-fired power plants by 2030, according to a study released on Tuesday by University of Texas researchers.

The study calculated that facilities that have been put forward for projects in Texas and Louisiana over the last three years could generate 541 million tons of greenhouse gases by the start of the next decade, trapping heat that leads to climate warming.

The Gulf Coast petrochemical buildout alone will generate more than 8% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according the study’s co-author, Andrew Waxman, an assistant professor of economics and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin."

Erwin Seba reports for Reuters January 14, 2020. [2]