TribBlog: A Vision for D.C.

Hitting familiar campaign themes, Gov. Rick Perry trashed what he calls a money-hungry, meddling Washington bureaucracy and offered a "four simple pillars of conservative government," addressing government spending, education, the environment and business regulation.

Speaking this afternoon at the Clean Carbon Policy Summit in Austin, the governor called upon Washington to reign in spending, create a fair and predictable tax policy, to hold public schools more accountable, and to enact tort reforms that prevent companies from being sued into submission. 

Those strategies, he said, have helped Texas "stimulate a culture of job creation and innovation that other states can only dream about, and in a perfect world, our success would convince the folks in Washington that there is a better way."

Addressing energy specifically, Perry called the Environmental Protection Agency a “rogue agency” and said the federal agency is operating with an “activist mindset” by declaring carbon dioxide a toxic substance and seizing control of Texas’ flexible permitting process.

“Instead of celebrating or emulating Texas’ approach, the EPA has targeted Texas. In light of the economic challenges facing our nation, it boggles my mind that the federal government would not only encourage a rouge agency to damage the economy but keep pursuing cap-and-trade legislation that would kill massive amounts of jobs,” he said.

In contrast to the federal administration, Texas creates jobs with conservative fiscal leadership, Perry said. Texas offers companies financial incentives, he says, while Washington over-regulates them. He cited a pair of bills enacted by the Texas Legislative in 2009, which offer $100 million in franchise tax credits to the first company to come up with a clean coal process that achieves a 70 percent carbon capture rate; and offers additional tax incentives for companies purchasing equipment that they use to capture carbon dioxide, as well as companies using carbon to better recovery oil.

The governor also touted clean coal technology. “Clean coal is and will be a part of a clean future for Texas and all Americans," he said. "In my estimation a healthy clean carbon industry will be a vital component of attaining energy independence."