A flaring event at the Javelina processing plant in Corpus Christi
Earlier this month, StateImpact Texas, NPR and the Center for Public Integrity reported on a secret EPA ‘watch list’ that shows repeated violations of environmental laws in the country by industry. The list showed that even though many facilities throughout the country were violating the law, the EPA and state agencies weren’t enforcing those laws in a timely manner.
Now the EPA has officially released the list on its website. As the Center for Public Integrity reports, the EPA has gone one step further and published other watch lists including “serious or chronic violators of the Clean Water Act, governing the release of pollutants in waterways, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, involving hazardous waste disposal.”
What does this mean for environmental regulation and enforcement? Will the new information lead to more lawsuits and litigation against polluters? Continue Reading →
Elizabeth Ames Jones, Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas
New rules with a big impact for many Texans came up at a meeting of the Railroad Commission of Texas today. They would require oil and gas companies to disclose what chemicals they use when “fracking.”
Residents near some drilling sites in Fort Worth are concerned about the fracking fluids possibly contaminating their water supply. A recent study by the University of Texas found no direct link between the practice and contaminated water underground. Continue Reading →
The University of Texas and Texas A&M football teams compete November 25, 2010 in Austin, Texas.
It was supposed to burn tonight, a stack of wood over thirty feet high, with an outhouse painted burnt orange on top. In a tradition dating back to 1909, Texas A&M University students and alumni gather together to light a massive bonfire before the annual rivalry football game with the University of Texas at Austin.
This year could well be the last meeting of the two teams, as A&M has left for another conference. And it could be the last bonfire for students, families and alumni at A&M wanting to ignite their passions against UT.
In Houston, where the business boosters count 3,600 local companies doing energy-related work, the title “World’s Energy Capital” is taken very seriously. And not just because of pride or profit.
“If you begin to lose the concentration in Houston as the Energy Capital, you start getting into, in my opinion, national security issues,” said Lane Sloan,a former long-time top executive with Shell. Continue Reading →
Good news for the many Texans living through the drought who are letting their grass die.
A new campaign by the Central Texas Water Efficiency Network (a group of water providers and conservation advocates) allows you to show off your dying grass as a model for conservation. Free signs are now available to residents to show their pride in a thirsty lawn:
The signs “provide a great explanation for why brown is the new “green” for Central Texas lawns during the drought,” says the group’s website. You can pick up your own at several locations in Austin, San Marcos and Round Rock. More information is available on the group’s website.
The announcement that Pope is leaving shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, as he had already turned over many of the reigns. Lone Star Sierra Club Director Ken Kramer says in an email to StateImpact Texas, “Michael Brune really took over as the staff leader of the organization when he replaced Carl as Executive Director last year.” Kramer says that Pope stayed on as Chairman — a role rarely used by the group — in order to help the new leader transition. “It was really always the plan for there to be this transition period in order to make the change a smooth one, which it has been,” he says. Continue Reading →
Who Uses the Most Water in Austin? We looked at data from Austin Water and discovered some customers use over a million gallons of water a year. Use our interactive map to see where the top 25 water users in Austin live, and how much water they use.
When Hazardous Waste Lived Right Down the Street: What would it be like to grow up down the street — literally a block away — from a plant that treats hazardous waste? For the residents of the Dona Park neighborhood in Corpus Christi, this isn’t a hypothetical question.
Ten Things You Should Know About the Texas Drought: It’s a question on everyone’s mind, one with an elusive answer — when will the drought end? How did we get here? Is there an end in sight? These and more questions, answered.
If Austin Goes Coal-Free, Could the Rest of Texas Follow? The mayor of Austin announced his re-election last week, and with it a new pledge: running Austin free of coal-powered energy. What does this mean for the city and the state?
Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope speaks before the U.S. Senate in 2008
The head of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, is leaving next year, according to media reports. Pope had drawn criticism for reaching out to labor and industry.
The Los Angeles Timesbroke the story and has an interview with Pope:
Pope said he will leave his position as chairman to devote most of his time to “revitalizing the manufacturing sector” by working with organized labor and corporations. That emphasis caused schisms in the club, most notably when he hammered out a million-dollar deal with household chemical manufacturer Clorox to use the club’s emblem on a line of “green” products, and more recently with its support of utility-scale solar arrays in the Mojave Desert, the type of place the club made its reputation protecting.
“I’m a big-tent guy, ” Pope said in an interview in the group’s San Francisco headquarters. “We’re not going to save the world if we rely only on those who agree with the Sierra Club. There aren’t enough of them.” Continue Reading →
There were reports earlier this week of leaks of at the BP refinery in Texas City, the site of a 2005 explosion that killed fifteen and injured 140 more.
The gases that were reportedly leaked were sulfur dioxide, a pollutant regulated by the EPA and linked to respiratory issues, and methyl mercaptan, a smelly gas — think rotten cabbage — added to natural gas (which is odorless) as a safety measure.
City Emergency Manager Responds
StateImpact Texas spoke with Texas City Emergency Manager and Homeland Security Director Bruce Clawson today about the situation at the plant. He says there has been no known leak of sulfur dioxide, but confirmed an ongoing leak of methyl mercaptan. Continue Reading →
Rail is being laid to bring oil in an out of the planned GT Omni Port in Port Arthur, Texas.
After the White House’s announcement that it would delay a decision on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Texas, the airwaves filled with competing voices.
Actor Robert Redford lauded President Obama. Alberta Premier Alison Redford toured Washington D.C. expressing confidence in the project, and the group that’s building the pipeline announced plans to find an alternate route through Nebraska.
But on the Gulf Coast of Texas, there was a sound that may be even louder than the media din: the sound of a pile driving hammer, slamming 85 foot concrete pilings into the earth. Continue Reading →
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