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In the westernmost outpost of a state still tightly embracing fossil fuels as climate change ravages the planet, El Paso citizens will soon decide if their city should take dramatic steps to wean itself from oil and gas.
El Pasoans will decide, in a special election this spring, the fate of an amendment to the city charter that would set aggressive renewable energy goals and overhaul city policy to make controlling carbon emissions a cornerstone of major city decisions.
Proposition K, known as the “climate charter,” has provoked fierce resistance and doomsday projections from business interests, spawning a bitter fight with local climate activists.
The fight has also become a testing ground for the national youth-led climate activist group Sunrise Movement, which has lent its support to the campaign and hopes that El Paso pro... Read more