AUSTIN, Texas (CN) – Dozens of children gathered under the shade of a historic live oak tree on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol Wednesday to listen to lawmakers read Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” a tale that depicts the terrible consequences of destroying trees. Their purpose: to thwart Gov. Greg Abbott’s crusade against tree protections.
In the story, read by state Reps. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and Wayne Faircloth, R-Galveston, a greedy “Once-ler” chops down the trees in a colorful utopian forest, against the pleas of the Lorax who “speaks for the trees.” When all the trees are gone, the air and water becomes polluted and all the animals who lived in the forest must move away, leaving the “Once-ler” alone and regretful in a barren land.
After the reading Wednesday, several of the children and other attendees delivered copies of Seuss’ book to the offices of 60 state representatives and senators.
The event was organized by Defend Texas Trees and the Texas Campaign for the Environment, environmental advocacy groups opposed to proposed legislation that would prevent cities from regulating what property owners can do with trees on their private lands.
More than 50 Texas communities have ordinances that keep property owners from cutting down certain protected trees, and which sometimes require owners to pay a fine for removing a tree.
Senate Bill 14, which would make it illegal for cities to have such ordinances, is a top priority of Gov. Abbott, who made it one of 20 agenda items he’s asking legislators to pass during a 30-day special session this summer.
Abbott’s crusade against trees
Abbott has called tree ordinances “socialistic,” and believes that telling people what they can and cannot do with the trees in their own backyard is an assault on private property rights.
Abbott also has some personal reasons which may explain why he wants to make it easier for people to cut down trees.
In 1984, Abbott was jogging in Houston when a giant post oak tree snapped and fell on him, crushing his spine and leaving him paralyzed. A year before the accident, a company had inspected the tree, located on private property, and found that there was some rotting at the base of the tree which could not be corrected.
Abbott sued the property owner and the inspection company and received a multimillion-dollar settlement.
The governor has also had a dispute with the city of Austin over its tree ordinance. In a radio interview in June, Abbott said that before becoming governor he wanted to cut down a protected pecan tree in the yard of his Austin-area home.
Austin’s tree ordinance protects 5 percent of the city’s 34 million trees, according to city arborist Michael Embesi.
“Austin told me no,” Abbott said. “I could not cut it down, and I had to pay money to the city of Austin to add more trees to my yard, because I wanted to cut down one very common tree that was in a bad location.”
The value of tree ordinances