The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the state’s top environmental body, acknowledged yesterday that global warming may pose threats to the state and said it would explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The move by the commission, headed by three appointees of Gov. George W. Bush, came a month after environmental groups filed a petition asking Texas to write a plan to cut emissions. Twenty-five states have already written such plans, and 35 keep track of their annual greenhouse gas emissions. Texas has done neither in the past, and for now the commission has promised only to begin tracking the state’s emissions and to examine what other states are doing to reduce emissions. Texas produces more global warming gases from burning fossil fuels than any other state, emitting 14 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases with about 7 percent of its population, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund and other enviro groups.
