State Rep. Eddie Lucio III spoke at the 2013 Ag Water Forum in Austin.
When the 2013 Texas Ag Water Forum met today, it was no coincidence it met just a few blocks from the State Capitol. As lawmakers grapple with how to fund the State Water Plan, agricultural groups worry that their water needs might be sidelined this legislative session.
There is an emerging consensus among legislators that the state should take around two billion dollars from the Texas Rainy Day Fund to put towards water projects. The Senate bill to do that designates ten percent of the money for rural use, but the House bill does not. The feeling among many of those at the forum was that both bills should set aside funds for rural projects.
“There has to be a way to marry the needs of both agriculture and municipal use, because in reality, they’re married to one another, and it’s just through policy and funding that we do that,” Democratic State Representative Eddie Lucio III, who represents agricultural regions in the Rio Grande Valley told StateImpact Texas.
The rise of drilling techniques like hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," has led to new economic prosperity as well as concern. What's the legislature to do? Join us Tuesday, Feb. 26th on the UT Austin campus for a panel discussion.
What role will state lawmakers have in shaping the current oil and gas drilling boom?
Please join us and a panel of several state lawmakers in Austin tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 26 for some answers. We’ll talk about how the historic increase in drilling has impacted different parts of the state and what role lawmakers could play in regulating the rapid increase in drilling. The panel will feature State Senators Rodney Ellis and Carlos Uresti and State Representatives Phil King and Van Taylor, moderated by Mose Buchele of StateImpact Texas.
We’ll look at issues like economic and environmental impacts, road damage and traffic, water use and property rights. And you’ll have the opportunity to ask your own questions of the lawmakers during an audience Q&A at the end of the panel.
The event takes place tonight in the 2nd floor auditorium of the Belo Center for New Media on the University of Texas at Austin campus, at the corner of Dean Keeton and Guadalupe. (And if you can’t join us in person, stay tuned here — we’ll be posting videos from the panel in the days following the event.)
This event is free and open to the public. Doors at 6 pm, and it begins at 6:30. You can RSVP on Facebook here.
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway
Rosemont 6th Grade School students help employees from Texas Motor Speedway work to refurbish an educational garden and plant trees at Rosemont 6th Grade School on December 14, 2010 in Fort Worth, Texas. (
A good garden is much about keeping the right things in as it is keeping the wrong things out. In: rich soil, tended rows and the right amounts of sunlight and water. Out: weeds, deer, Bunnicula. And for one state lawmaker, add to that list of noxious intruders something unexpected: lawsuits.
A bill recently introduced by Rep. Borris L. Miles, D-Houston, would protect landowners of community gardens from liability against accidents on the garden.
HB 1652Â would limit the legal responsibility landowners have over what happens on their property, if it is used as a community garden.
The bill would not protect the landowners against negligence, but instead against gardening incidents. Continue Reading →
The bill would require many beverage containers to be refundable, for five or 10 cents each. The money refunded would come from a deposit paid for when the beverages are purchased. A similar “bottle bill” was introduced to the legislature in 2011, but didn’t pass.
The Texas League of Conservation Voters (TLCV) commissioned a report on how the deposit-recycling program could affect the state economy. It says that if the program is implemented, the state could gain 2,300 jobs and reduce beverage container litter by 80 percent.
The latest NOAA forecast predicts the drought will "persist or intensify" in much of the state over the next three months.
While conditions have improved since the inferno that was the summer of 2011, much of Texas remains in serious drought. According the latest U.S. Drought Monitor Map, 88 percent of the state is in some level of drought conditions, with over a quarter of Texas in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
And the situation isn’t likely to improve in the near future, according to the latest three-month drought outlook released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That forecast, pictured above, calls for the drought to “persist or intensify” through the end of May, with drought developing in other parts of the state. Continue Reading →
A new federal analysis shows that oil inventories at Gulf Coast refineries typically decline in December, as companies have to pay their taxes.
Despite a drilling bonanza in Texas and other parts of the country leading to high levels of domestic oil and gas production, gasoline prices have been on the rise lately. Since mid-January, average prices at the pump went up from $3.37 to $3.81. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher: if we’re producing more and more of our own oil, why are we paying more for it?
Common answers to that puzzling question have pointed to more demand in China, conflict in the Middle East and shutdowns at some refineries. And, of course, the reality is that no matter how much oil we produce, it’s traded on a global market that’s out of our control.
And a new federal analysis possibly points out another small, temporary piece of the puzzle: oil refiners on the Gulf Coast that are trying to pay less in taxes.
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University/Forest Service
A Texas A&M Aggie plants a Loblolly Pine seedling in Bastrop State Park after the 2011 wildfires. New legislation could expand the supply of native Texas seeds.
In the mid-1500s, Comanche Indians roamed what would eventually become Central Texas, Karankawa Indians fished where Galveston would one day sit and hardly an invasive or exotic plant existed in the state. But since then, many of Texas’ native plants have taken a beating.
Legislation introduced by a Texas lawmaker could help reseed Texas with the hardy native plants and grasses of that bygone era, and return the landscape along Texas’ highways and construction sites to a native state.
“I would describe this agenda as one [of] trying to protect our natural heritage,” Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who has filed two native seed bills, tells StateImpact Texas.
The problem right now, Villarreal says, is that road construction projects and energy exploration leave a muddy mess in their wake. That torn-up land must be reseeded, but that is oftentimes done with non-native species. Continue Reading →
A new bill by several Republican state lawmakers would make it easier to buy and sell raw milk in Texas.
If a group of Texas lawmakers gets their way, buying and selling raw milk in the Lone Star Stare could become easier to digest.
A bill introduced by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, would allow raw milk producers to sell in farmers markets or fairs. The bill also permits the delivery of raw milk directly to the consumer.
Movements toward natural, organic and locally-produced foods led to the recent increase in popularity of raw milk. Raw milk is not pasteurized, not homogenized and currently not available for sale anywhere except on the farms that produce it.
Flynn proposed HB 46 because he recognized the difficulty of traveling to dairy farms to purchase milk, especially in a rural areas such as his District 2, according to his office. Seven of the bill’s eight authors and co-authors are Republican.
The drought has affected cattle herds across Texas and the Midwest. Texas lawmakers are considering funding a water plan that could protect the state's water supplies.
“Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting,” said John Cook, Mayor of El Paso, echoing Mark Twain at the House Natural Resources Committee meeting that began early this morning.
Mark Twain may have changed his tune, though, if he saw the Capitol meeting room tightly packed with mayors from Texas’ largest cities, lawmakers and water authority officials, all unified in their support of using billions of state dollars to finance water projects across the state.
Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for funding, Twain might have said. (If in fact he ever said the original quote, which is doubtful.)
Texas State Climatologist Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon.
As record drought and heat in Texas have garnered more and more attention over the last few years, so did Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, State Climatologist.
Nielsen-Gammon says his position is part researcher, part adviser. “Basically, the job is to make sure the state makes the best use of weather and climate information,” he tells StateImpact Texas.
Nielsen-Gammon is also a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, so he has additional duties teaching and researching for the school.
A&M is now requesting $284,000 from the state legislature to fully fund and expand the operations of the Office of the State Climatologist. Until now, the majority of the office’s funding came from the university and various research grants. Continue Reading →
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