Where politics, government and energy intersect.
UPDATE: Late Friday afternoon State Attorney General Abbot’s request to stay the ruling on TCEQ water management was denied, according to The Aransas Project, the plaintiffs in the case. However, the language of Judge Jack’s original order (the one the state was trying to stay) was amended to allow the TCEQ to approve water permits from […]
The House Energy Resources Committee heard hours of testimony on Wednesday on House Bill 100, also known as the ‘unitization bill.’ The bill, introduced to the Legislature by Representative Van Taylor, R-Plano, would legalize unitization of oil fields in Texas. What exactly does that mean, and why is it garnering such a heated reaction? It […]
Significant new funding for water projects in a dry, thirsty Texas moved one step closer to becoming a reality today. The bill, HB 4, would take money from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to start a loan program for new water projects. It passed unanimously in a committee, and now it heads to the House floor for […]
When supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline said it would bring jobs to Texas, they probably weren’t talking about jobs for lawyers. That’s just kind of how it worked out. As property owners challenge the company’s use of eminent domain, the project to bring crude from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf […]
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is tasked with safeguarding the state’s natural resources, but this week a federal judge found the Agency responsible for the deaths of 23 rare whooping cranes. The TCEQ’s management of water flows into the Guadalupe River lead to the deaths by not allowing enough freshwater into the river, […]
Bills aimed at funding the State Water Plan rolled into two subcommittees today in the State House and Senate. Lawmakers discussed taking $2 billion from the rainy day fund and giving it to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to fund local water projects. They also heard support for the plan from diverse groups from […]
Certain tax exemptions will cost Texas $43.9 billion in 2013, according to a new report from the Texas Comptroller. Two state senators say it’s time to start reviewing those tax breaks. “We have no earthly idea what they are, what they cost, who benefits from them,” Sen. Rodney Ellis told StateImpact.
Within days of the announcement earlier this year that the state legislature could get serious about funding new water projects in Texas, folks started having questions. Where will that money go? Why not make more of the water we have instead of building more reservoirs? And what’s to prevent the proposed $2 billion ‘water bank’ […]
Update, March 20, 2013: HB 1496, which would limit how cities could restrict or ban drilling and fracking, is scheduled for a hearing in the Land and Resource Management Committee Monday, March 25 at the Capitol. You can find the agenda here. Original Story, March 8, 2013: “Local control” is a term you hear a lot […]
New legislation could plug the leaks in the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) reporting requirements for municipalities running low on water. Right now, a water utility can be nearly tapped out, and it still isn’t required to report the problem. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, has filed a bill, HB 252, that would require water […]
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