Texas then: We don't need no stinkin' environmental regulations.
Texas now: In February 2024, Axios reported that Texas air quality was expected to get worse with:
Nearly 70 of Texas' 254 counties are expected, by 2054, to see an increase in days with an average air quality index of 100 or higher under current climate conditions.
This seems to be a trend. From 2022: Texas heat leads to worst summer smog pollution in a decade | The Texas Tribune
Texas has seen more days with unhealthy levels of smog pollution this year than it has in a decade, state data shows, as vehicle and industrial emissions react with record-high temperatures, spiking ozone concentrations.
Since the beginning of the year, Texas air monitors have recorded 43 days as of Tuesday when ozone concentrations were high enough somewhere in the state to be considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s double the number of unhealthy ozone days recorded by this time last year, and it’s the most in the period of January to mid-July since 2012, air monitoring data maintained by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shows.
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But while smog levels spike this summer, Texas politicians and regulatory agencies are fighting the federal government, hoping to block stricter regulations on the pollutant.
Let's talk about Texans being asked not to drive.... - YouTube
Of course, it's not just Texans that don't want to deal with the problems that come with burning fossil fuels. Most of the Global North, especially those in the US, do not want to deal with it. We have refused to deal with it. So now we will reap the whirlwind.