The Island of Doubt

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is having a bad week. The state House Public Health Committee just voted to rescind the governor's executive order requiring all pre-teen girls to be vaccinated against HPV and a county judge ruled against another executive order requiring the state to fast-track a review of proposed coal-fired power plants. On the surface, the two decisions point to conflicting political motivations, but I see a connection.

Perry's order that all young girls should have the benefit of Merck's new vaccine against a virus that causes cervical cancer constitutes a nice big Valentine's present to the pharmaceutical sector, but also a show of faith in the power of technology. His attempt to get new coal-fire plants up and running is similarly a big payback to his fossil-fuel allies, but also a show a faith in the power of technology.

While the first example seems like a good idea, and might appeal to progressive elements in Texas and elsewhere, it is almost certainly a precipitous decision, coming only a few months after federal approval of Merck's vaccine. I know that if I had a daughter, I'd want her vaccinated. But it makes even more sense from Merck's point of view, as an alternative vaccine from a competitor is very close to making it to market. The sooner schools start mandating students get the vaccine, the longer Merck will enjoy a monopoly. Surely mandatory vaccination could wait a little while, until the efficacy and possible side-effects have a had a chance to be properly evaluated.

Yes, Gardisil has been tested, and you'll never catch me arguing against vaccinations on principle. But when you force it into someone's body, a litle prudence is probably a good idea. Just a year or two to see what happens and allow reasonable doubt to evaporate. Then make it mandatory. That would also go a long way to reassuring members of the paranoid anti-vaccine factions out there that it isn't just a cash grab by Merck. The last thing we need is a political decisions that supports their conspiracy theories. (Merck also just announced it would cease lobbying for such orders, seeing as how greedy it made the company look.)

On the coal-fired plant review process, Perry is again showing that he's susceptible to simplistic arguments about the power technology, this time in favor of the right-wing status quo. Yes, coal plants are the fastest and cheapest way to meet growing electricity demands. But everyone with an ounce of environmental sensibility knows they're the worst possible choice when it comes to managing greenhouse-gas emissions. So why the rush? Again, it suggests a need to give the folks who now make lots of money generating electricity even more opportunity to make money before the hammer comes down on dirty power.

Texas faces huge challenges in the coming decades as we wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and it must be scary to be a coal or oil industry executive these days. But it's good to know that at least one judge recognizes a scam for what it is. Just as the pharmaceutical industry requires a vigilant regulatory overseer, so do those who generate electricity. America is learning that deregulation is almost always a bad idea. Perry must be reading the writing on the wall and trying to pay off his cronies now before it becomes impossible.