How Texas is responding to global warming

Texas easily leads the nation and is the world's seventh-largest polluter of carbon dioxide emissions. And some of the top political leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, still question whether man is contributing to climate change.

But deep in the piney woods around this East Texas community, accessible only by unmarked dirt roads, crews are working on one of the great hopes in the battle to reverse the trend.

This is Texas oil country. All around, tucked in the dense and swampy woods, rusty pumps operate as they have for decades. At first glance, it seems an unlikely place for a cutting-edge solution to the most politically charged environmental problem of our time.

Susan Hovorka, a senior scientist with the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, has chosen this spot to do a little pumping of her own. However, she's pumping carbon dioxide underground instead of pumping oil and gas out.

The technology — carbon sequestration — siphons carbon dioxide from power plants or other industrial facilities into the ground instead of letting the greenhouse gas escape to the atmosphere. And here, on an old oil pad in the Texas woods, is one of the most advanced and successful test projects.

"Texas and the Gulf Coast are usually slammed, but it is showing promise for a big environmental cure," Hovorka said.

This is part of the dichotomy in the Lone Star State when it comes to battling greenhouse gasses.

Many see Texas as a haven for oilmen and industry that long have lobbied to keep global warming regulation out of the policy debate.

But Texas has also been a pioneer in renewable energy, a trend started when George W. Bush was governor.