Lawmakers discuss a point of order aimed at killing HB 11
It was possibly the most high profile piece of legislation at the capital this session. It had the backing of the governor, the state’s business community, and many environmental groups. But last night House Bill 11, the plan to pull $2 billion from the state’s rainy day fund to put to Texas water projects, could not muster the votes to gain approval in the Texas House of Representatives.
Backers of the bill felt pressure from all sides ahead of the vote. Tea Party budget cutters called it an example of irresponsible spending and pointed out that the bill would likely break state imposed spending limits. House Democrats made their support contingent on tapping the rainy day fund for education as well.
To navigate the impasse, bill supporters plotted a risky course.
The Texas legislature will consider major legislation to help the state's water woes this week.
Time is running out for Texas legislators as the 83rd legislative session nears its conclusion. This week will see plenty of activity on bills that deal with water, eminent domain and roads. In our weekly installment, we pick some of the energy and environment legislation we’re watching this week. Think we missed something? Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments below.
You Can Lead a Lege to Water …
This afternoon, major legislation on water planning and funding for Texas could be heard in both the House and the Senate. HB 4, by state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, is one of the big water bills this session. It would create a water infrastructure bank and prioritization process for new projects and conservation. That bill has already passed in the House and could come up on the Senate floor today, a potentially significant step forward. Update: the bill passed in the Senate, 30-1.
The actual money for that plan is in another bill by Ritter, HB 11, which would take $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to kickstart the water bank. That bill recently passed out of committee and will get a hearing on the House floor today. Update: the bill was sunk by a legislative maneuver. Read more here. Continue Reading →
SWEETWATER — About a year ago, talk began circulating in this West Texas town about a huge oil-producing formation called the Cline Shale, east of the traditional drilling areas around Midland.
Then the oilmen and their rigs arrived. Now homes and hotels are sprouting, “help wanted” signs have multiplied, and a major drilling company has cleared land to build an office and equipment yard.
“It is coming, and it is big,” said Greg Wortham, the mayor of Sweetwater, who also serves as executive director of the Cline Shale Alliance, a new economic development group.
The Cline Shale, thousands of feet underground in a roughly 10-county swath, is just one of many little-tapped shale formations in Texas and across the nation, geologists say. That means the potential for oil and gas discoveries is theoretically huge, and the reason is technology. The rock-breaking process known as hydraulic fracturing, coupled with the ability to drill horizontally underground, has allowed drillers to retrieve oil and gas from previously inaccessible areas.
Many shales will be too expensive or too small to develop, especially if oil prices fall or environmental regulations tighten. But in Texas, which is already the top oil-producing state, bullishness about a new era is pervasive. Continue Reading →
Photo Courtesy of Harvard Environmental Law and Policy Program.
Kate Konschnik is Policy Director for the Environmental Law and Policy Program at Harvard University and lead author of the study.
FracFocus, the online registry used by Texas and other states to disclose information about hydraulic fracturing, “creates obstacles to [regulatory] compliance” and seems “structurally skewed to delete” records, according to a report from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Program.
The website is an integral part of the way drillers disclose what chemicals they are putting in the ground as part of the the drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” It’s been touted by Texas politicians and state regulators as a way for landowners and concerned citizens to determine how fracking is impacting the environment.
In Texas, drillers have been required to use FracFocus to disclose fracking ingredients since February 2012. But the report says FracFocus is not only unequipped to serve as a database for information, it finds that the site creates obstacles to regulatory compliance.
That might be because states are relying on the website to fill a role it was never intended to fill, says Kate Konschnik, head of Harvard’s Environmental Law and Policy Program and lead author of the study.
A helmet is carried in remembrance of a firefighter from the Abbott Volunteer Fire Department killed in a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas last week.
Firefighters, public officials and thousands of Texans gathered in Waco Yesterday at Baylor University for a memorial service to remember twelve firefighters and first responders that died in the line of duty while responding to a fire at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West last week. While fighting the fire, the plant exploded, killing 15 and destroying nearly 150 homes.
You can listen to the radio story above, and see images from the memorial service in the slideshow below by KUT photographer Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon:
Rick Auckerman / Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Irrigation in freezing weather can damage crops and equipment, but many crops must be irrigated because of statewide drought conditions.
Recent rains helped pull more of the state out of drought- but 92 percent of Texas is still experiencing at least a moderate drought and in some of the state drought has worsened.
The U.S. Drought Monitor maps released Thursday morning show a slight decrease from last week in the percent of the state facing drought, but a four percent increase in the state currently under “extreme” drought.
The Northeast and far eastern portions of Texas received some relief with recent rains. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center estimates these regions, along with much of the Midwest, will see improvements in the coming months. Continue Reading →
Texas likes to be “business friendly” and as the state legislature considers bills to limit environmental regulation to keep it that way, some economists warn of the longer term consequences.
Dave Fehling / StateImpact Texas
Cattle ranch borders petrochemical plant in Calhoun County
“It’s not as simple as saying yeah, it’s a negative for everybody and everybody is going to move out of the state if we have more stringent regulation,” said Daniel Millimet, an environmental economist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
The idea that too much regulation can scare off business has been a main thrust of some of the state’s environmental regulators like David Porter, one of the three elected leaders of the Texas Railroad Commission. Speaking last October at oil and gas drillers conference in San Antonio, Porter contended that should Texas succumb to the stricter pollution regulation of the federal government, disaster would follow for the state’s booming drilling industry. Continue Reading →
Larry Joe Doherty on his ranch, where he use prescribed burning. If passed, two bills could make this practice easier.
Two bills promoting responsible prescribed burning received a public hearing in the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee Wednesday morning.
Both bills would indirectly influence the ease with which landowners could use this wildfire prevention technique on their land.
SB 702 by state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, would establish standards for prescribed burners, as well as training, education and insurance for those doing the prescribed burning.
Tesla want's to sell it's electric vehicles in Texas directly to consumers, but will the legislature oblige?
There are lots of retail businesses that have come to Texas recently: Trader Joe’s, H&M, even In-N-Out Burger, a move so bittersweet it brought one Dallasite to tears.
But for one gleaming, seductive product with an almost astronomical price tag, you’ll have to look elsewhere — the Tesla electric car.
Because of state law (which is similar to those in many other states), manufacturers of cars can’t directly sell new cars to customers in Texas. Enter Tesla, who wants to do just that, and is now engaged in a full-press charm offensive to get the Texas legislature to amend the law. Tesla maintains that their only chance of survival is to own their own dealerships, and under current law they can’t market and sell their electric cars fairly and profitably.
To give you an idea of what it’s like trying to buy a Tesla in Texas, I went to the company’s showroom at the Domain in Austin. There, a shiny black Tesla S sits in the center of a long, narrow showroom, with bright lighting, clean lines, and no clutter, much like an Apple store. There are T-shirts, swag, some seats and large posters extolling the car’s virtues. But the star of the room is the car.
You just can’t drive it, or even find out from Tesla staff how much it costs.
While it's called the Railroad Commission of Texas, it actually deals with regulating oil and gas in the state. A name change could be in the works this legislative session.
Update, May 2, 2013: The Senate Bill passed on the Senate floor today, and now heads to the House.
Original story, April 24, 2013:Â
SB 212, which would change the name of the Railroad Commission of Texas to the Texas Energy Resources Commission passed out committee today. The bill would also restrict campaign contributions for Commissioners, their ability to run for a different office while overseeing the Commission and institute a pipeline permit fee. There were no amendments. The bill now heads to the Senate floor.Â
The Railroad Commission wields a big stick in Texas. It regulates the state’s most profitable industry, oil and gas, and all Texans elect its three commissioners. One thing the Railroad Commission doesn’t control, however, is railroads.
Few oppose a more apt title for the agency, but wrapped up in the legislation are also rules restricting campaign contributions for commissioners and their ability to run for a different office while overseeing the commission.
What “we’d like to see changed in the bill are the resign-to-run [provision] and the two ethics financial issues,” relative newcomer Commissioner Christi Craddick said during testimony. “But otherwise I’d like to see this bill move.” Continue Reading →
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