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WEEKEND EDITION / THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2017 VOLUME 91 ISSUE 93

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ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Professors evaluate different energy sources

By BRANDI ADDISON Staff Writer

Globally, energy can be found nearly everywhere.

Whether geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, nuclear, petroleum or coal, each energy form contributes to maintaining a technologydriven environment.

As of January, Texas led the nation in energy production, generated from several different sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website.

The leading source for electricity generation in Texas, as of December, was natural gas, according to the website. Texas leads the nation and is amongst the top places in the world in natural gas production.

Following natural gas in leading sources for electricity generation are coal, nonhydroelectric renewables and nuclear sources. Along with these, petroleum is viewed as an asset in the state of Texas.

“I cannot stress enough how much petroleum impacts us,” Marshall Watson, department chair and associate professor of petroleum engineering, said.

Almost everything has some sort of petroleum in it,

he said. This includes products like fuel, cell phones, CDs and DVDs, paint and clothes.

“Without it, we would be in the Dark Ages,” Watson said.

The annual total for crude oil production in 2016 was close to a billion barrels, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas.

Texas leads the nation in crude oil reserves and production, having more than one-third of all U.S. crude oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website.

It is also amongst the top oil producers in the world, Watson said.

In response to the rumors that fossil fuels will be depleted within the next 50 years, Watson said he has no fear of depletion any time soon, not even within the next century.

Because of the possibility of depletion and concern with climate change, Robert Forbis, assistant professor of political science, discussed other potential sources for energy aside from fossil fuels.

Alternative sources need to be considered because fossil fuels contribute to global warming, Forbis said.

Fossil fuels create a thick layer of carbon dioxide around the Earth,

Forbis said. This increase in carbon dioxide levels causes the atmosphere to act like a blanket, making the Earth warmer.

There are challenges to be met in seeking new sources, however, such as finding storage for each resource, he said.

“The sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow,” Forbis said.

“Geothermal and tidal energy are as constant as burning a fossil fuel.”

Forbis said he believes the world is in the middle of a historic transition. In the long run, every source of energy has a trade-off and a benefit.

Brian Shreck, visiting professor in political science at Tech, discussed the negative impact that fossil fuels cause on the environment and also talked about other sources of energy that may be less harmful.

Wind energy is potentially a better solution, he said, but it depends on the area.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website, Texas remained the largest producer of wind energy in the nation during 2015. Texas accounted for 44 percent of all wind capacity additions in 2015.

One of the main concerns

ADMINISTRATION

with wind energy is that wind turbines increase the deaths of birds and affect bird-migration patterns. However, Shreck said he believes wind energy is a relatively small threat when compared with fossil fuels.

“In the midst of the most rapid pace of loss of biodiversity, particularly with regards to the birds, they’re most at risk because of the climate,” Shreck said.

Because of fossil fuels, oceans are rising more quickly, carbon emissions are causing acidification, and there is a loss in biodiversity, he said.

“If we use more wind and solar energy, we can reduce carbon emissions,” Shreck said.

The issues are starting to matter less and less to people, Shreck said, and instead, people are becoming more accepting of the issues.

“When energy issues are found as a national security issue, people will connect back to energy independence,” Shreck said.

Because of the problems caused by fossil fuels, a lot of places are seeing the fastestgrowing energy sectors they have ever seen, he said. However, the economic feasibility of it is slowly dropping.

The biggest problem is

people are seeing how climate change, an issue caused by energy production, is a global problem, but they do not think an individual can solve it on his own, he said.

“Global action can start in a smaller scale,” Shreck said.

“Whether it be in Lubbock or even in your home, it can have an impact.” @DailyToreador

ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Galyean selected for provost position Tech Housing, Rubbermaid host Michael Galyean has been selected as the provost for Texas Tech, a position that has not been filled since August when Lawrence Schovanec began his tenure as president of the university.

This announcement came via a memorandum from the Office of the President at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Since Aug. 1, Galyean has served as the interim provost.

Galyean first came to Tech

in 1998 after serving on the faculty of New Mexico State University and West Texas GALYEAN A&M University, according to a July article in The Daily Toreador.

In 2006, Galyean was also named a Paul Whitfield Horn professor, according to the president’s memo. He was one

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of three candidates up for the provost’s position. The other two were Rhonda Phillips, dean of the honors college and professor of economics at Purdue University, and Hesham El-Rewini, dean of the college of engineering at the University of North Dakota, according to a previous memo from the president.

Galyean’s term will begin immediately. @MichaelCantuDT

RecyleMania, first waste audit

By JOSHUA ENGARD Staff Writer

Texas Tech University Student Housing, along with Rubbermaid Commercial Products and Keep America Beautiful, hosted the university’s first waste audit in conjunction with RecycleMania, a nationwide tournament that encourages colleges to reduce waste output.

The event took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesday on the south side of the Student Union Building, according to a Tech news release.

“We have been recycling since 2009 but have never done a waste audit before,” Melanie Tatum, assistant director of sustainability and warehouse operations at Student Housing, said, “and that is the best way to find out how well you are doing and what you can do to improve.”

Students were encouraged to volunteer for the event in addition to attend-

ing, according to the release.

Prizes were awarded for various categories, such as guessing the total weight of recyclables found and the total amount of trash collected.

During the audit, waste that was collected from the SUB over a 24-hour period was sorted and weighed to determine how well the university community recycles its waste compared to other schools across the country, according to the release.

RecycleMania is hosted every year from February to April, Tatum said. In the past, Tech has participated by exchanging T-shirts for bags of recyclable items as well as recycling waste from Red Raider basketball games.

Because RecycleMania is a competition, Tatum said the event is a positive way to get the Tech student body involved with going green.

“Our students are always wanting to beat (the University of Texas at Austin) in everything, and we have an opportunity to beat them in how green our campus is,” Tatum said. “Austin is a very conscious place when it comes to recycling, so it would be a great thing for this community to do out-do them in an event like this.”

Rubbermaid Commer-

cial Products, a nationwide manufacturer of recycling products, has sponsored RecycleMania for the past three years, and representatives were present at the audit with a recycling truck and samples of their recycling systems for students to learn about.

“The more awareness you bring to a topic or issue, the more favorable the results or outcome will be,” Rod Ford, account manager of Rubbermaid, said. “Partnering with RecycleMania and focusing on this group of future leaders and contributors to get to them early will only allow recycling efforts to blossom in the future.”

University Student Housing works year-round to educate and encourage students to properly handle their waste output, even beyond their time living in the residence halls, Tatum said.

“I would like for students to educate themselves on what is recyclable and how to be more sustainable,” Tatum said, “to be more conscious about walking the extra 20 feet to the recycle bin, to take shorter showers, to unplug their computers if they aren’t using them.” @DailyToreador

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Storms threaten central US; trucker dies in Oklahoma SPUR (AP) — A storm system blamed for the death of a truck driver in Oklahoma barreled eastward Wednesday, generating a tornado in Houston and threatening additional bad weather in the central United States.

The day after three storm chasers died in a collision as they raced toward a tornado-warned storm in West Texas, the Storm Prediction Center said 17 million people from Missouri to Louisiana risked seeing twisters, hail and high winds on Wednesday.

An even greater threat exists Thursday in northern

Mississippi and Tennessee.

The National Weather Service said a tornado with winds between 60 and 110 mph (100-175 kph) struck an apartment complex in southwestern Houston on Wednesday morning, damaging carports, windows and roofs. No injuries were reported following the tornado, rated as an EF-0 or an EF-1 on a six-level scale of tornado damage. Later Wednesday, damaging winds knocked a shipping container on a truck, injuring two near LaPorte, 20 miles (32 km) east of Houston. The Port of Houston said it didn’t know if a tornado was to blame.

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NEWS

MARCH 30, 2017

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ENERGY AND CLIMATE

National Wind Institute conducts energy research

By AKHILA REDDY Staff Writer

In practice and through scientific research, Texas Tech is paving the way for a future that does not rely as heavily on fossil fuels.

The National Wind Institute is one of the primary departments on campus developing alternative energy sources, Daan Liang, the interim director of the National Wind Institute, said. The department was founded in 2012 and previously existed within the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering.

“We have a long history of doing research related to wind,” Liang said. “It started off dealing with wind hazards, but in the last 10-15 years, we have also made great progress into wind energy research.”

The institute has two long-term goals, Liang said. Its primary goal is to reduce the cost of producing wind energy, making it competitive in the energy market.

Its secondary goal, Liang said, is to create a system that integrates wind energy into the existing power structure, despite wind energy’s intermittent and relatively uncontrollable nature.

The interdisciplinary

department draws personnel from across campus, Liang said, which enables the department to tackle t he bi g ge r chal lenges .

For example, many of the issues related to wind energy are related to batteries and energy storage, as well.

“Initially, we kind of stayed within that wind realm, but later on, we discovered that some of the problems are kind of crossing that boundary into other fields,” Liang said. “So, we came to the realization that in some cases, we have to include some newer technologies or different disciplines into our research enterprise to get better solutions.”

The Global Laboratory for Energy Asset Management & Manufacturing is an example of an interdisciplinary project the National Wind Institute is involved with, Liang said.

GLEAMM is a renewable energy portfolio located at what was previously Reese Air Force Base. It was funded by a $13 million grant by the state of Texas, according to its website.

Michael Giesselmann, department chair of Electrical & Computer Engineering, is involved with the research at GLEAMM. At

GLEAMM, there are wind turbines, a newly installed solar array and a battery for energy storage. The facility is being used as a model “microgrid” in which the researchers can control input and measure energy output without affecting the city’s power grid.

“What we’re going to look at is what the output (of wind energy) is, how predictable it is. Then, we’ll look at the integration into a bigger microgrid with other sources,” Giesselmann said.

“So, we’re going to see how wind plays together with solar and storage.”

One of the primary issues with integrating wind energy into the power grid is the intermittency of wind energy, Giesselmann said. Wind energy is only generated when the wind is blowing, which often does not coincide with times of peak energy usage. The battery is one way to store energy and use it as needed.

Despite their issues, wind energy and, more recently, solar energy have become viable competitors in the energy market, Giesselmann said. In Texas, it is not atypical for 40 percent of energy generation to be from wind, and he predicts this number

COURTESY OF MICHAEL GIESSELMANN

Wind turbines aid in the research conducted by the National Wind Institute at Tech. The National Wind Institute is one of the primary places on campus researching alternative energy sources. will only get bigger as technology improves.

Developing alternative energy is important for society, he said, and research facilitates that.

“I mean, (alternative energy) is completely sustainable. As long as the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, we can get energy, and it doesn’t use up anything,” Giesselmann said. “Fossil fuels, you have limited amount.

You us e t hem up, and there’s probably a pretty

strong consensus today, they are producing greenhouse gases that are not good for the environment.”

Liang said he sees the potential for wind energy to play a bigger role in supporting the entire electrical system, but that would also require some advancements in regards to the power grid and storage.

Liang believes Tech will continue to lead in making those advancements.

“I think that we are in a unique place. Not only

do we have this wind institute, but also you look at where we are. First of all, Texas is No. 1 in wind energy. It surpassed California years ago, and if you look at Texas itself, West Texas and Lubbock are central hubs for wind energy,” Liang said. “So, just by being here, being on campus, being at Texas Tech, there is tremendous opportunity. I think this is a unique place you can’t find anywhere in the country.” @AkhilaReddyDT

ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Tech works to reduce carbon footprint on campus On the non-researchbased side of the university’s role in cutting down on the use of fossil fuels is the Office of Energy Management.

The Office of Energy Management is, among other things, responsible for Tech’s utilization of renewable energy as well as the reduction of energy usage on campus, Lon Mirll, the manager for Energy Management Operations, said.

Tech’s energy source is Lubbock Power and Light, Mirll said, and the energy it provides to the campus is approximately 20 percent renewable. The renewable energy comes at no additional cost.

On campus, Mirll said there is limited use of direct renewable energy sources, such as solar panels. The maintenance overhead and desired aesthetic of campus makes it difficult to implement these renewable sources. However, one of the most effective sources of renewable energy on campus is the

water-side economizer.

“The water-side economizer is a sustainable energy source in that it allows us to take advantage of the really cold weather to heat and cool the campus,” Mirll said. “We send steam and chilled water to the campus 365 days a year. There may be snow on the ground in the middle of winter, but the building still has an internal heat load, and we have to send chilled water there to cool that building down.”

The economizer allows the university to reduce the load on the chiller, Mirll said, and is essentially a free source of energy for cooling. The economizer works anytime the dew point drops below 40 degrees, and it is started as early as October and is run as late as May. Although the economizer has been a success, Mirll said his top priority is reducing the university’s total energy consumption and by extension, use of fossil fuels.

“For every dollar that we

spend (reducing the energy index), we can reduce our carbon footprint by a factor of three times more than we could if we spent that money on photovoltaics or windmills,” Mirll said.

The university has already reduced its energy index by 25 percent per square foot in the past 16 years, despite a growing population, Mirll said. Tech’s carbon footprint has also decreased by the same number.

Tech was able to reduce the energy index by fiscally efficient changes, he said.

These changes include better regulating heating and cooling schedules in buildings and, more recently, installing Esite, an energy accounting system that allows electronic collection of data on energy usage in buildings.

“There was a broken chilled water control valve in the English building that we discovered through the system. We fixed it relatively easily and estimate that single change saved our cam-

pus $200,000 a year. That was one fix that didn’t cost a whole lot of money,” Mirll said. “And it’s not just dollars we’re saving, it’s energy.

And we’re reducing what’s pumped out into the atmosphere. So, we’re reducing the carbon footprint.”

Mirll said alternative energy is still great and something he supports.

But, he thinks it is not currently the best option for the university. Once the university’s energy levels are minimized by continuing the current work, Tech can look to start investing in renewable energy.

“You can’t take this work outside and get a brass plaque on it and get the newspaper there and everybody cheers,” Mirll said. “You can’t do that because it’s all happening on this computer screen and here at this table.

But, we get a bigger bang for our buck and so does the environment.” @AkhilaReddyDT

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OPINIONS

Page 4 Thursday, March 30, 2017

COLUMN

@DailyToreador www.dailytoreador.com

Democrats should take lead on health care O n Friday, House Republicans took a hit as their new health care bill completely collapsed.

It was the first major initiative of the Trump administration, and it was a total bust. Many Republicans didn’t want it. Democrats definitely didn’t want it. But because Republicans had campaigned for years — seven to be exact — on the promise to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law, they weren’t going to give up that easily.

This resulted in the bill eventually being pulled after President Donald Trump had given Republicans an ultimatum: vote on Friday, or we’re moving on.

True to his warning, Trump has already started moving on. Reports out of the White House reveal

Haley Britzky is a senior journalism major from Trophy Club.

that the next move for this new administration is tackling tax reform and infrastructure.

But what about health care? It’s certainly not going to go away. Trump t w e e t e d o n S a t u r d a y, “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!”

He tweeted again on Monday that Democrats will make a deal with him “once Obamacare folds.”

In reality, “Obamacare” is not doing well. While Democrats clearly preferred it over the Repub-

lican’s replacement, they’d be foolish to think it can stay as is and survive the next seven years.

Democrats would be extremely smart to play on this failure by Republicans and offer smart revisions to “Obamacare.” What better way to look like the good guys than to do what Republicans couldn’t and to do something they’d been promising the American people for years?

Multiple health care providers have threatened to leave the “Obamacare” exchange in 2018.

Humana announced its departure last month, and while it isn’t the largest player in the market, it raised red flags as to what other providers may follow its lead.

Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at George-

town University, told The New York Times that Humana’s departure could foreshadow future changes.

She identified the conflict the providers are experiencing as being based on the fact that they are not obligated to be involved in these decisions.

That’s a monopoly, and nothing good ever comes from a monopoly.

CNN reported that the CEO of health care provider Aetna said last month that “Obamacare” was in a “death spiral,” and that Anthem has said it is unsure of whether to participate in the exchanges

for 2018.

Axios reports that if Anthem left the market, more than 200,000 people in four states would have no “Obamacare” providers, and more than 500,000 people in eight states would have only one.

That’s a monopoly, and nothing good ever comes from a monopoly.

This doesn’t have to be a partisan issue. I think it’s safe to say that all lawmakers want affordable health care that can cover the most people possible: that’s the easy part.

If I were a Democrat in the House, I would recognize that I don’t have the majority and work on reform to draw in the Republicans who stood against Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s health care bill.

It’s a win-win situation.

On one hand, Democrats pull ahead in the health care debacle by offering smart revisions that Republicans can agree on, as well. “Obamacare” is strengthened, and the big problems are fixed.

On the other hand, Trump gets to ultimately pass the revisions, talk about how he made a huge deal and reinforce the successful-businessmanturned-president image he so badly wants to create for himself.

Republicans ran on the promise of revising health care for years, and they couldn’t do it. If I were in a Democrat’s shoes, especially preparing for the 2018 election, I would be jumping on this opportunity. opinions@dailytoreador.com

COLUMN

Class discussion emphasizes value of respect

A

s my instructor pulled her stool to the center of the room, I could sense this class period would be different.

Our class is on the brink of heated debated at least once a week. We’re an opinionated bunch, nothing we can do about that. And, usually, our instructor manages to guide our conversations back to the “matter at hand” almost immediately.

This time, however, I believe she might have set aside the whole class period for discussion. She had us close the door at the beginning of class, citing her

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Avery Aiken is a sophomore communication studies major from The Woodlands.

purpose for this was that we would be “loud” that day.

That seemed unusual, but I couldn’t think on it long because she started pulling up a video.

The video featured Scott Pelley, television reporter and a Texas Tech alumnus, being interviewed on a news station’s talk show.

During this exchange, Pelley brought up several points about President Donald Trump.

Oh no.

We could all see where this was going. Were we going to get a chance to comment on these points? Were we going to hash them out?

Was that steady bubble of political tension we foster every Monday and Wednesday finally going to boil over into our carpeted classroom?

Yes. Our instructor, with her stool centered in front of the first row of seats, set us loose with a prompting question I cannot even remember now. This incitement threw us into a volley of a discussion.

Back and forth, we responded and stated and cited. Our hands kept flying up, and our eyes kept darting from one speaker to the next.

Some responded nonverbally with a slow shake up

or down of the head. Some simply sunk into their seats, praying those remaining minutes would tick down faster.

Most of us, though, found our usually cautious mouths spilling out opinion after opinion.

Our hands kept flying up and our eyes kept darting from one speaker to the next.

In all honesty, I am not sure our instructor ex pected this. She might have been thrown off guard by the sheer vigor and enthusiasm with which we embraced this topic and the opportunity for discussion.

Initially, the conversation started similarly to how many have seemed to start recently. Rhetoric and assumptions quickly established that any defense of Trump would be seen as ignorant and foolish. But, with the gentle introduction of support for Trump, the conversation shifted from a bashing of one man and his shortcomings to a two-sided discussion about his actions and the nation’s response to them.

With the introduction of the radical idea that Trump might not be the Antichrist, those who sympathize and support him emerged from the woodwork.

This reminded me of the situation we saw in the 2016

make sense to hope that one opinion is not changed from disregarded to accepted, but that our comfort in disagreement would mature and our capacity to respect would grow?

I believe that gaining the acceptance of one opinion in place of another is not progress but a heartbreaking representation of our country’s greatest shortcoming.

If we are supposed to be a

When did it become only okay for one side to speak up? country that allows all ideas — except for widely threatening or explicitly dangerous ones — to exist with mutual respect, then why are we allowing such a discrepancy to be perpetuated?

To give an example, why would we rejoice that now it is acceptable to boast about the accessibility we have to abortion procedures while it is becoming societally unacceptable to advocate against abortion? Immediately, such an opinion could brand someone as small-minded.

It’s sad there was a period of time when someone with an opinion couldn’t share it without reasonable fear of unjustified judgement. In the past, the ones advocating for a woman’s right to choose or for the legalization of gay marriage would most likely

have been judged harshly.

Now, this seems to be quite the opposite. Is a reversal of societal norms really what we want, though?

I want progress. I want acceptance, but even more so, I want respect to be viewed as an unalienable right.

Maybe if we make decisions with the intention of maintaining respect for each other some of these disagreements would resolve themselves. Until we reach that point, allow me to offer some peace of mind by telling you how my class ended.

After a fascinating conversation swirled fervently through our classroom for half an hour, we walked away with more friends and more enthusiasm. We shared our opinions without compromising our arguments with ad hominem attacks.

No one’s character was questioned, but the ideas we expressed might have been.

That’s healthy. No one’s beliefs were devalued, though the agreement upon them might have been varied.

We shared our opinions, and we walked away with some new ideas, with greater respect for each other and with minds ready to embrace change and progress. This is the purpose of the United States. This is why and how we thrive as a melting pot. This is what it looks like to embrace the freedom to speak freely.

But, I mean, that’s just my opinion. opinions@dailytoreador.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Unpaid bills put trial of Texas attorney general in limbo AUSTIN (AP) — As courtroom twists go, this one is practically unheardof: On the brink of bringing Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, to trial on felony securities fraud charges, the government’s prosecutors are threatening to bail out of the case unless they get paid.

Wh e t h e r o ne of t he biggest criminal cases in Texas finally goes before a jury is now in limbo over what prosecutors contend is a deliberate effort by rich supporters of Paxton, an up-and-coming firebrand in Republican legal circles, to delay justice by challenging their paychecks. So far, the tactic is working.

Paxton, who was a state lawmaker and investor on the side before being elected attorney general two years ago, was indicted for alleg-

edly steering investors to a technology startup in 2011 without disclosing that he was being paid by the company.

A judge appointed two high-profile Houston attorneys to prosecute the case after the district attorney, a Paxton ally, recused himself. The trial is scheduled to start May 1, and the judge said Wednesday he will issue a ruling Thursday on whether to postpone the trial. He also told both sides to stop making comments to the media. Paxton’s lawyers declined comment as they left the court Wednesday.

Supporters of Paxton have made an issue of the $300-an-hour fees being charged by the special prosecutors, who are paid by the Dallas suburban county where the trial will be held.

A three-judge panel of a Dallas appeals court agreed

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presidential election. With several different groups insisting that Trump is not only crazy, but his supporters are as well, many who might have some pretty solid arguments in favor of the guy sunk into the sand.

With a fear of being called everything from a racist or a bigot to an unintelligent fool, Trump supporters were shamed into silence. We chocked back our arguments and swallowed our defenses.

Like a glimmering foil, those who were and are against Trump have been deafeningly loud. Protests, boycotts, Facebook posts, “Saturday Night Live” skits, snide remarks, etc. have rampantly mocked, scorned and sullied every effort Trump has attempted. Rightly so, of course, because our nation is one that not only allows but also encourages such opinionated discourse.

Yet, I find that the very ones criticizing Trump for his alleged intolerance find themselves denying tolerance to those who disagree with their opinions.

When did it become only OK for one side to speak up?

Perhaps, the counterargument here would insist that it has always been this way, and it serves me right to finally spend some time not agreeing with the more vocal majority.

I understand that, and I do.

But, if we are all working toward equality, wouldn’t it

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to halt payments on the $200,000 in legal bills while it considers a lawsuit filed

by Jeff Blackard, a wealthy Dallas developer and onetime Paxton political donor, who has argued that the fees were excessive and costing taxpayers too much.

“Everyone in the courtroom is being paid except for us,” one of the appointed prosecutors, Brian Wice, has said. “No one expected us to work for free.”

Firing back, Paxton’s attorneys earlier this month accused prosecutors of being “financially self-serving” and argued they don’t have a right to be paid until the case is over. As of last year, Paxton had raised more than $300,000 from private sources to pay his own highpowered defense team.

Legal observers say they’ve never seen a case

jeopardized quite like this.

“It’s outrageous that the prosecution should be derailed by the defendant somehow, or the defendant’s supporters or friends, defunding the prosecution,” said Joe Turner, a veteran Austin attorney who helped Willie Nelson and Matthew McConaughey beat drug busts years ago.

The challenge is the latest development in Paxton’s rise to prominence. In two years in office — nearly all of which has been spent under indictment — the 54-year-old Paxton has taken the mantle as Texas’ freedom-loving, federal government-suing defender of conservative causes.

He led the lawsuits that halted former President Barack Obama’s efforts to expand transgender rights

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and challenged a Texas school district’s designation of a Muslim student prayer room.

Paxton, who faces 5 to 99 years in prison if convicted, has said he’s innocent of the charges and has signaled he will run for re-election in 2018.

After the indictment, there was grumbling in conservative Collin County over the escalating tab being paid to the two appointed prosecutors. Wice has in the past represented former Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on money laundering charges.

Kent Schaffer’s clients have included the actress Farrah Fawcett and former Texas tycoon Allen Stanford, who was convicted of bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

than 650 words in length and on a topic of relevance to the university community. Guest columns are also edited and follow the same guidelines for letters as far as identification and submittal.

EDITORIALS

Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Toreador. All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinions of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the editorial board, Texas Tech University, its employees, its student body or the Board of Regents. The Daily Toreador is independent of the College of Media and Communication. Responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies with the student editors.

NEWS

WWW.DAILYTOREADOR.COM

MARCH 30, 2017

5

ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Researchers look for climate change solutions, causes

By MARISA POJTINGER Staff Writer

At Texas Tech, researchers and professors alike dedicate endless hours to discover what causes climate change and precipitation patterns, as well as how to gain more control over them.

Some researchers utilize a method called regional climate modeling to help find a solution for the changing climate and study how different elements can affect the Lubbock area.

Yonggang Wang, research assistant professor of atmospheric sciences, centers his research around using con-

vection-permitting regional climate simulations with kilometer-scale grid spacing.

Convection-permitting regional climate modeling can better simulate precipitation characteristics, Wang said.

“One of my studies uses the regional climate model to examine the spatial patterns of precipitation and stream flow in the interior western United States and how they change in a changing climate,” Wang said. “In this studied domain, heavy precipitation occurs mainly in high-elevated mountains.”

Although drought is still a concern for West Texas, much of the economy of West Texas is water-limited, he said. His

research focuses on combining current understanding of the Earth’s system to quantify the variability of seasonal water supply and extreme flows in the area, and how to offer guidance about how this variability may evolve in the next few decades.

“This work will benefit the water-allocation decision process, as well as agricultural and forestry interests, and engineering projects designed to cope with extreme floods,” Wang said.

Shuo Wang, research assistant professor of atmospheric sciences, focuses on the development of computational methodologies and tools for explicitly quan-

tifying uncertainties and their temporal and spatial interactions in hydrologic predictions, advancing our understanding of nonlinear dynamics and chaos in complex systems.

Currently, Shuo Wang has been developing data assimilation techniques for probabilistic hydro-climate projections in central Texas, he said. The research outcomes would be useful for flood risk analysis and control over Central Texas.

Shuo Wang said he wants students to be aware and understand that climate change is one of the most severe

challenges facing the planet during the 21st century.

“To achieve sustainable development, we need to figure out how to address the challenge of climate change in an effective and efficient way,” Shuo Wang said.

Hydrologic extremes, such as floods and drought, become more frequent under climate change, he said.

As climate change leads to harsh weather conditions, these severe events can result in human death and property destruction, according to the Environmental Protection Agency website.

Therefore, Shuo Wang

said, it is necessary to produce reliable forecasts of extreme events associated with risk analysis to reduce the loss caused by the more frequent extreme events in a changing environment.

“I take advantage of hydrologic models to make a solid prediction. Before I use the model to predict the future, I need to use historical data to train the model and to make sure that the model has the ability to reproduce the historical data,” Shuo Wang said. “After the model has been validated, I use it to make a prediction.” @DailyToreador

ASSOCIATED PRESS

US opens formal investigation into civilian deaths in Mosul WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has launched a formal investigation into what role the U.S. played in the deaths of dozens of civilians in Mosul, Iraq, earlier this month, amid warnings from a top American general that the dense urban fight is making it harder to avoid killing innocents.

G e n . J o s e p h Vo t e l , head of U.S. Central Com-

mand, told Congress that Islamic State militants are exploiting American sensitivities to civilian casualties, using people as human shields to avoid being targeted by strikes.

“As we move into the urban environment it is going to become more and more difficult to apply extraordinarily high standards for things we are doing, although we will try,”

Votel said during a House Armed Services meeting.

Republican Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona, a retired Air Force colonel, questioned whether the high standards are “ridiculous,” because they allow militants to use civilians as a defense against airstrikes so they can “live to fight another day.” The result, she said, is just more innocent deaths.

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NEWS

MARCH 30, 2017

WWW.DAILYTOREADOR.COM

ENERGY AND CLIMATE

Climate change may increase immigration problems

By MICHAEL CANTU News Editor

As most climate scientists have kept their focuses on the environmental effects of climate change, there have been researchers from other fields who have connected the dots to discover the effects the issue may have on people.

From a sociological standpoint, the issue of people’s cultures and environment being stomped on has become rather significant as people cope with the effects of their denigrating environment, Cristina Bradatan, associate professor of sociology, said. And it has been within the political sphere that fights around climate change has come up.

What has spurred from that are debates over people moving from place to place and trying to find refuge in lands that are not their own, Bradatan said. In West Texas and parts of South Texas, this fight against immigration has risen sharply, especially since the election of President Donald Trump.

“Climate science has become one of the most polarized topics in the entire United States,” Katharine Hayhoe, associate professor of political science and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech,

said. “The best predictor of whether we think the climate is changing and whether we believe humans are responsible is not how much we know about the science, it’s simply where we fall on the political spectrum.”

As one of the directors of the Climate Science Center, Hayhoe said those who are within the program, Bradatan included, are trying to connect people with the problems they may face because of climate change.

So, it has been within Bradatan’s research, she has seen connections to how climate change is having an impact on immigration.

The people affected are the “new-wave migrants,” a term that refers to the people who leave their native lands because of what is happening to the environment around them, Bradatan said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has also highlighted these people, according to its website.

Indigenous people are the primary targets of the harsh effects of climate change, and they mainly consist of those who live in rural areas, depend on the land to survive, have little access to health care and are of low socioeconomic status.

“There is some literature looking to Mexico. So, for a

long time, there is this wave of Mexicans coming to the United States for economic reason. This is well known,” Bradatan said. “Now, what’s happening with climate change is that climate change will affect the amount of rain that the land receives.”

Because the land these people live on gets little rain, they are unable to sustain themselves through agricultural means, she said. So, these people migrate to other places, and their decisions are usually influenced by the types of network they may have.

Therefore, many people move to places where there are groups of similar individuals who may be able to support them, Bradatan said.

“So, in the case of Mexican migration, Mexicans already have a large network in the United States,” Bradatan said. “With climate changes, it’s like another layer that pushes more of them, actually, to leave.”

It is not that this is happening only in the southern part of the U.S., but this is happening all around the world. But in the current political climate, she said this undoubtedly poses a problem as politicians have penned much crime and economic problems on immigrants who have come to

the United States.

But even in places of refuge, these immigrants are not completely safe from problems that may come from the environment, she said. West Texas has a water problem in that there are ways of obtaining water for people and crops, but these ways, nonetheless, take a toll on the environment.

Most of the people around West Texas are invested in the agriculture industry and use water from the Ogallala aquifer, a large aquifer that spans from Nebraska and parts of Wyoming down to the panhandle of Texas. But, the area that siphons from that aquifer does not have enough rain and increases water uses on a frequent basis.

“So, we have this issue, again, where we don’t have enough water. We just live off of the aquifer, and the aquifer is actually depleting very fast,” Bradatan said.

“And we built this great irrigation system. Everything is actually irrigated, but we are overusing this.”

As of 2015, around 30 percent of the Ogallala aquifer’s water had been pumped out of the ground and another 39 percent is expected to be gone in the next 50 years, according to Bloomberg magazine.

As a result, Hayhoe said, it is up to climate scientists

like her to try and warn people of the problems that may come of the little water that is available to people around the region.

“So, for example, I work with water managers across the state of Texas. We plan for our water out not just 10 or 20 years. We plan for water up to 50, even 100 years,” Hayhoe said. “So we want to know in the future, is our rainfall changing? Are our evaporation rates changing?”

On top of problems with water and immigration, there is an age problem in rural West Texas, Bradatan said. Most of the aged popu-

lation is in rural areas, while the younger workforce moves to urban areas. This creates a three-way problem when it comes to economic growth in the region.

This is one of the problems people are having in most of Latin America, which is the cause of people moving to northern, more urban regions, Bradatan said.

“But climate change, that’s something that we look to and seems to be one of the drivers in the increase in the number of immigrants coming to the United States,” Bradatan said. @MichaelCantuDT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas Senate OKs ‘fetal remains’ bill despite court case AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill mandating burial or cremation of fetal remains from

abortions and miscarriages, even though a federal judge already blocked an existing state rule requiring the same thing.

Dallas Republican Sen. Don Huffines’ bill passed 22-9 on Wednesday. It still needs a final vote to send it to the House.

Huffines says Texas now allows putting fetal remains in garbage disposals, though medical providers note that they usually are incinerated and

deposited in sanitary landfills.

Opponents argue the bill will discourage abortions by making them more expensive.

Texas’ health department

previously set rules requiring fetal remains’ burial or cremation, but a U.S. district judge suspended them as “purely political.”