President Barack Obama visited an Oklahoma pipe yard in March and pledged his support for the Cushing-to-Texas Keystone Gulf pipeline.
All this week we’re running stories on the Keystone XL pipeline in collaboration with our neighbors to the north, StateImpact Oklahoma. We’re looking closely at the southern leg of the pipeline which would run from Cushing, Oklahoma to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
While the original Keystone XL pipeline was denied a permit by the President in January, Obama said the company was welcome to reapply if they found a new route through environmentally-sensitive regions of Nebraska (which they’re currently working on). And after the company also announced it intended to go ahead and begin construction on the southern leg, that got the endorsement of the president.
How do you feel about the pipeline? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. And you can learn more on our topic page, What is the Keystone XL Pipeline?
Photo by Flickr user Eric Constantineau/Creative Commons
A state representative says a new radioactive waste dump in West Texas is part of a cover-up.
There are some hot documents that may show a cover-up in the approval of a controversial radioactive waste dump in West Texas. Problem is, you can’t seem them.
Democratic State Representative Lon Burnam said at a press conference Monday at the state capitol that he’s obtained top-secret internal documents from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). They reportedly show that the commission approved the low-level radioactive waste dump, owned and operated by Waste Control Specialists, despite environmental risks. But he says he can’t show the documents to anyone because he signed a confidentiality agreement. The storage facility is owned by Harold Simmons, a Dallas billionaire and major financial backer to Texas politicians. He’s given money to Governor Rick Perry and Attorney General Gregg Abbott, who’s received $495,000 from Simmons over the past five years.
The problem, Rep. Burnam says, is that groundwater exists too close to the radioactive storage area and the company building it downplayed the risks associated with contamination. Now he’s officially asking the attorney general’s office to release him from confidentiality so the public can see the documents.
“I don’t think that [it] should be top secret,” said Rep. Burnam. “I think the public has a right to know. I think public health and safety is involved in this right now.” The dump is due to begin receiving radioactive waste as soon as next Monday. Continue Reading →
A worker sprays paint on a oil storage tank in the Enbridge Energy lot at the Cushing tank farm.
This is the first of a four-part collaborative series by StateImpact Texas and Oklahoma on the economic and environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Oklahoma is in an unlikely economic predicament: It has too much oil.
Rice farmer Billy Mann says that in the future, they'll have to grow more rice with less water.
New numbers put into perspective just how much water rice farmers in southeast Texas used out of the Highland Lakes for their water-intensive crop compared with city-dwellers in Austin last year. The Highland Lakes consist of two large reservoirs, Lakes Buchanan and Travis, and several pass-through lakes. Buchanan and Travis are still only half-full, despite a wetter-than-average winter.
A new report from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), which manages water in the Highland Lakes for the city of Austin and farmers downstream, shows that rice farmers used 367,985 acre-feet of water from the lakes in 2011. (An acre-foot is a measurement of water, i.e., how much water it would take to cover one acre with one foot of water, which is roughly equivalent to 325,800 gallons.) Another 65,266 acre-feet of water was released from the lakes downstream but not used, due to evaporation, seepage, or “conditions changed that eliminated the need for the water,” according to the LCRA, bringing their total to 433,251 acre-feet used from the Highland Lakes.
The city of Austin, on the other hand, used 106,622 acre-feet of water from the Highland Lakes, less than a third of the amount used by rice farmers. And the same pretty much holds true for previous years. (Another 192,404 acre-feet of water straight up evaporated from the lakes last year.)
A cow that perished on a ranch outside of Marfa was dried "like jerky" by the drought.
Driving a pickup through a ranch outside of Marfa, Texas last week, grad students Justin Hoffman and John Edwards came across a sight sadly common for their region in far West Texas. A cow that had perished in the field.
What was strange about the grisly discovery was the condition of the body. After months in the elements, the animal still looked very nearly intact. The arid weather had dried its skin and organs “like jerky,” says Edwards. He gave its side a knock with his fist, the hollow drum-like thud illustrating his point.
For many Texans who came close to forgetting what rain looked like, this past winter was a welcome surprise. Unusually-wet weather helped Central and East Texas crawl their way out of last years historic drought. But the same can’t be said for the Trans-Pecos region, the far western point of the state, where the drought persists unabated. Continue Reading →
Photo courtesy of Flickr user riko.jennrich/Creative Commons
Nutria are one of the more notorious invasive species in Texas
Burros, armadillos, bluebonnets, and pecan trees are just a few examples of the diverse flora and fauna that one might come across in Texas. While some of these species have become a source of state pride, others are much less welcome.
Over the past few decades, a coterie of invasive species has trespassed into the Lone Star State. The federal government defines an “invasive species” as “a species that is non-native or alien to the ecosystem” and “causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.” Zebra mussels, Africanized bees, and feral hogs are just a few of the invasive species that have made their presence known in Texas.
Combined, invasive species have caused an immense amount of agricultural, ecological, and economic damage. Local scientists are worried that they’ll continue to wreak havoc unless state regulators and citizens alike start implementing stronger measures to stop them from spreading.
The photo gallery below shows the top ten invasive species in Texas, along with brief summaries of the damage they’re causing to the state. Continue Reading →
Judge John Dietz has made a ruling that could cost the state billions in tax revenues.
A new ruling this week from Travis County District Judge John Dietz this week could cost the state of Texas billions in tax revenue. Ruling in favor of the drilling company Southwest Royalties, the court found that oil and gas equipment used for exploring and completing wells should not be subject to sales tax because it qualifies for an manufacturing exemption.
Frequent lawn watering may soon become a thing of the past in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
While the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was the first major population center in Texas to become drought-free this winter, it looks like they’re preparing for more droughts like the one that has baked the state over the last year and half. This week a coalition of four mayors in the region (representing Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth and Irving) announced their intention to enact permanent water restrictions in their cities by this summer. This would mean residents could only water their lawns twice a week.
“For us to grow in our future, we’ve got to have that water,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at an announcement Wednesday, according to local news reports. “We don’t have enough water for those people. In less than 20 years, you talk about a deficit in Washington. We have a deficit right here in North Texas and it’s water,” he said.
Ken Kramer, Director of the Sierra Club in Texas, applauded the move in a statement Thursday. “Although this is only one measure in a series of potential water conservation practices that might be pursued, it is significant,” he said. “It demonstrates that the North Central Texas area – which has often been criticized for its heavy water use – is making progress in embracing a water conservation ethic.”
Dallas, Fort Worth and Irving are some of the top users of water per capita in the state, making them prime subjects for conservation. But each city’s council still has to approve the permanent restrictions before they go into effect.
A firefighter poses in front of a wall of hail in Amarillo, Texas Wednesday.
At first people didn’t believe it, but it really is true. A photo from the National Weather Service’s Amarillo office (NWS) posted on Facebook Wednesday night shows a local firefighter standing next to a wall of hail some four feet high.
In an interview with MSNBC, Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Amarillo, denied that the photo just showed ice on top of rocks, as some skeptics asserted after seeing it. “I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas,” she told MSNBC. She said the four feet of ice was caused by a lot of rain and water. “Anytime you have hail accumulate 2 to 4 feet high and get over three inches of rain, no matter how it occurs, it’s pretty incredible,” she told the news site. And because of excessive drought in the region, there was a lot of dust, which gave the ice that rock like color.
Garcia takes the seat of Elizabeth Ames Jones, who resigned from the commission in February to run for the Texas Senate. Jones had come under fire for moving to San Antonio to run for the senate, as rules require Railroad commissioners to live in the state capital.
(The Railroad Commission of Texas is something of a misnomer as it no longer has anything to do with railroads. You can read some background here.)
In a press release from the governor’s office, Garcia is noted as being “a member of the Texas Coastal Land Advisory Board and Gulf of Mexico Alliance, an ex-officio member of the Texas Water Foundation, and co-chair of the America’s Wetland Foundation Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities Effort.” And also for being a Little League coach.
UPDATE: Garcia released a statement early Friday morning through the TCEQ on his new appointment: Continue Reading →
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