How salty is too salty when it comes to water? That was a hot topic this week at the Capitol.
Several representatives of groundwater districts testified on a whole host of water bills Tuesday at the Capitol, where they argued largely over one thing: what exactly is brackish water?
As Texas looks to build new water supplies, some lawmakers are advocating to look deeper underground than where our freshwater supplies lie. That’s where large deposits of salty, or “brackish,” wait, and could be desalinated for freshwater use. While not as salty as ocean water, exactly where to draw the line between fresh and brackish water was a key debate during a hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee Tuesday.
Ty Embrey, an attorney representing several groundwater districts, started the debate when he questioned the definition of brackish water in a bill by Rep. Bill Callegari, R-Houston, HB 2334, which would make it easier for industries to desalinate salty groundwater and seawater. That bill, like most of the legislation dealing with brackish water at the Capitol this session, defines brackish water as “all groundwater with a total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration greater than 1,000 milligrams per liter,” according to the bill’s fiscal note.
Embrey expressed concern over the definition because he says legislative definitions like this are difficult to change in the future. He testified against five bills in the committee hearing because of this definition. Continue Reading →
The Keystone XL pipeline under construction in East Texas. The state legislature is considering plans to change how pipelines use eminent domain in the state.
The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would take heavy crude oil from sand pits in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas, is getting new scrutiny after an oil spill from another pipeline in Arkansas carrying that same kind of heavy oil.
Environmental groups say that allowing the Keystone XL pipeline, owned and operated by the pipeline company TransCanada, will harm the climate and risk severe spills, while the oil industry says pipelines are the safest way to move the fuel, and that oil will help the economy and national security. The President’s getting pressure from both sides to decide whether or not to allow the pipeline to cross the Canadian border. But with our without presidential approval, the Keystone XL pipeline is coming to Texas, where it has brought another issue into the spotlight: property rights in an industry-friendly state. Continue Reading →
The bill for the latter, HB 2781, would allow people with a public water supply connection to collect rainwater for potable purposes. People living in rural, unincorporated areas already have that right.
Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, said when he started writing the legislation he didn’t realize he was writing a cleanup bill for legislation passed in the last session. A previous bill, written by Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, who sits on the Natural Resources Committee, was supposed to allow most people to install potable rainwater collection systems, but complications with the language in the bill stopped it short of its original intent.
“It was brought to my attention that the people of Texas weren’t being allowed to use their rainwater at their homes as they saw fit and I just thought it was common sense legislation,” Fletcher said.
The bottom of the lake after the water has dried up at the Benbrook Lake Dock in Benbrook, Texas, near the peak of the drought in August 2011.
While there are different routes proposed to get there, one goal is clear this legislative session: lawmakers want to do something to address the state’s water woes. Texas faces shrinking water supplies, persistent drought and a growing population. One major initiative that would likely take $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to start financing new water projects in the state had a hearing today at the State Senate Natural Resources Committee.
Representatives of farmers, environmentalists and conservative groups all had their say on that proposal, HB 4, by Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland. And for the most part, the plan has widespread support. “I’m getting a little bit worried because the comments by the Texas Farm Bureau sound like the rationale Sierra Club has for supporting this bill,” joked Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair & Legislative Advisor for the Lone Star Sierra Club, who testified in favor of the bill.
The plan would create a revolving bank, the State Water Implementation Fund of Texas (SWIFT), that would review and approve loans for water projects, things like new reservoirs, brackish desalination and conservation. The loans would be repaid into the bank, which would then use the money for other new projects. 20 percent of the funding would be dedicated to conservation projects, while 10 percent would be directed towards rural areas.
At this point, the only real opposition to the water funding comes from some fiscal conservative groups, who argue that state spending and oversight is largely unnecessary. Continue Reading →
Signs warn that fish may be contaminated at Superfund site along San Jacinto River
Some county governments have found that when it comes to suing corporations over polluted property, hiring a private law firm on a contingency fee basis is the way to go.
But against the backdrop of a multi-billion dollar dioxin case in Harris County, there’s an effort to outlaw those arrangements in pollution lawsuits.
(UPDATE: A Texas Appeals Court on July 25 ruled in favor of Harris County, denying a temporary injunction sought by the companies Harris County was suing using contingency lawyers) The House Committee on Environmental Regulation has scheduled a hearing today on a bill that would ban counties from using private firms, HB 3119. (UPDATE: On April 16, the committee delayed consideration of the bill by “leaving it pending”)
The bill has the support of the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute that compiled a report on what it calls the “dubious practice of employing private lawyers on a contingency basis.” Continue Reading →
A man walks along Lake Travis after water receded during a drought in Austin, Texas September 10, 2011.
It’s crunch time at the Capitol, and legislators have precious little sand left in the hourglass to push bills out of committee. So you’ll see the pace pick up quite a bit in the coming weeks.
We at StateImpact Texas have compiled a not-so-short list of important bills on energy and the environment to help guide you through this period of legislative overload. (While many of the bills are set in groups, they are not listed in any particular order, and the list isn’t meant to be comprehensive.)
Texas Water PlanÂ
Two of the most watched bills this legislative session, HB4 and SB4, will be discussed at the Senate Natural Resources Committee meeting Tuesday morning. HB 4, by Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, would create an implementation fund for projects in the Texas water plan.
SB 4, by Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, would also create a state water implementation fund and restructure the top of the Texas Water Development Board into three-member, full-time board instead of a six-member, part-time board.
Tom Bragg, left, of Sunpro Inc., works on finishing filling his truck with water as Gary Wortman takes off the filler hose from his truck after filling up with water at a Chesapeake Energy Corporation fresh water collection station at a sand and gravel pit, May 31, 2012, in Carroll County, Ohio.
The Texas legislature is currently considering plans to fund water projects for the state. Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry is using billions of gallons of freshwater for fracking, which is getting the attention of lawmakers.
Virginia Palacios, a research associate at the Environmental Defense Fund, has a new analysis showing that many of the Texas counties currently facing water shortages are also slated to have oil and gas development in the coming years.
Rep. James "Jim" Keffer, R-Eastland, heads the House Energy Resources Committee.
During a legislative hearing this year related to hydraulic fracturing, state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, made a reference to what he thought was an unfair portrayal of the industry in the film Promised Land.
“My wife’s seen it, she didn’t like it, so don’t go if you haven’t,” Keffer said at the hearing, which featured testimony from oil and gas representatives.
Friendliness toward the drilling industry is typical for Texas, where many lawmakers receive campaign contributions from oil and gas groups or have investments in drilling companies. The three elected members of the Railroad Commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry, have received significant contributions from the very industry they regulate.
Critics say that the industry exerts excessive control over elected officials, especially in boom times. But lawmakers and the drilling industry say that the donations are the way things operate. And lawmakers say that they make their decisions based on the best interests of the state. Continue Reading →
Barry Smitherman, the head of Texas' oil and gas agency, took to social media today to criticize Republican senators advocating for debate on expanded background checks for gun ownership with the word "treason" and a picture of a noose.
Update: 24 hours after his tweet, Smitherman apologized on Twitter, saying “I chose the wrong message to [re-tweet]. A regretful mistake. I apologize.”
Original story: Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman weighed in on the gun-control developments in Washington on Thursday, re-tweeting an image that showed a noose beside the names of Republican U.S. Senators who had voted down a filibuster.
On Twitter, Smitherman re-posted an image and message from a user with the handle @PsychScriv, who had posted: “Make sure none of these people have seats in 2014.” The accompanying image showed a list of the 16 Republican senators whose vote had broken the filibuster that would have kept the gun-control bill off the U.S. Senate floor. A noose dangled beside the names, topped by a single word: “Treason.”
Smitherman added his own commentary, tweeting: “We are in trouble when these Rs side w/ Sen Reid.” The list included Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, the Republican party’s 2008 presidential nominee. Continue Reading →
Some parts of the state may find themselves in the strange position of actually needing hurricanes this summer. Victor Murphy, climate program manager at National Weather Service Southern Region, says tropical storm landfall could be the best hope to get rain to parts of Texas that desperately need it.
Even though much of the state experienced some rain in the past week, 89 percent of Texas remains in a drought.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map for this week, which includes last week’s rains, actually shows an increase in the percentage of the state suffering from drought.
Even though some areas received as much as four inches of rain, Murphy says the storms kept conditions from worsening, but didn’t improve anything. Continue Reading →
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