Tribpedia: Environmental Problems And Policies

Tribpedia

Texas contains an abundance of natural resources, but efforts to impose environmental regulations have faced roadblocks for many decades. Texas holds a large share of the nation's oil and chemical manufacturing industries, so state policymakers must balance economic considerations with the need to curtail environmental risk. Oil, gas and chemical manufacturing industries employ thousands of Texans and contribute billions ...

Read More...

The Texas Forest Service, the lead agency for battling state wildfires, is part of the Texas A&M University system.
Enlarge photo by: Djakhangir Zakhidov
The Texas Forest Service, the lead agency for battling state wildfires, is part of the Texas A&M University system.

Slideshow: Fighting Fires in Texas

The Texas Forest Service, the lead agency charged with fighting fires, has had a busy season due to strong winds and drought.

Enlarge

TribWeek: Top Texas News for the Week of 3/21/11

M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011.

A worker untangles a hose at a Fountain Quail water management and treatment facility in Roanoake, Texas. Fountain Quail cleans and separates water used in fracking for natural gas removal.
Enlarge photo by: Matt Nager for The New York Times
A worker untangles a hose at a Fountain Quail water management and treatment facility in Roanoake, Texas. Fountain Quail cleans and separates water used in fracking for natural gas removal.

Texas Could Require Disclosure of Drilling Chemicals

A recently introduced bill would make Texas one of only a few states to require natural gas companies to disclose, for a public website, what chemicals they use in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing.

Enlarge photo illustration by: Bob Daemmrich/Todd Wiseman

Texas Task Force to Battle EPA Regulations

Texas is summoning all of its political firepower to do battle against the Environmental Protection Agency. A newly announced task force of state and federal lawmakers will try to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and abolishing the state's flexible permitting system for refineries and other big plants.

A conservation easement on this approximately 2,000-acre ranch in Medina County is part of San Antonio's aggressive aquifer-protection program
Enlarge photo by: Muliadi Soenaryo
A conservation easement on this approximately 2,000-acre ranch in Medina County is part of San Antonio's aggressive aquifer-protection program

In San Antonio, a Focus on Land Conservation

Despite tough economic times, San Antonio is continuing an unusual and aggressive program to protect its aquifer, by using public money to purchase land or easements to prevent development in critical areas.

Response boats work to clean up oil where the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig sank on April 22, 2010.
Enlarge photo by: United States Coast Guard
Response boats work to clean up oil where the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig sank on April 22, 2010.

Parks Director on the Legacy of the Gulf Oil Spill

  • by Ian Crawford

With the one-year anniversary of the BP oil-rig explosion approaching, Ian Crawford of KUT News spoke with Carter Smith, executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, about the state of the Gulf and why researchers may be studying its effects for decades.

A coalition of Tea Party groups rally against President Obama on Jan. 16, 2009, at the Texas Capitol.
Enlarge photo by: Bob Daemmrich
A coalition of Tea Party groups rally against President Obama on Jan. 16, 2009, at the Texas Capitol.

Texas Won't Secede — But It Won't Shut Up Either

Texas leaders aren't talking about secession, after an outbreak of conversation a couple of years ago. But the germ of the idea remains in the anti-federalist talking points that fueled Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign last year and provided the outline for his book, Fed Up!

Bill Neiman, owner of Native American Seed, at his seed-cleaning facility in Junction, TX, Jan. 18, 2011.
Enlarge photo by: Callie Richmond
Bill Neiman, owner of Native American Seed, at his seed-cleaning facility in Junction, TX, Jan. 18, 2011.

Native Grasses Take Root (Again) in Texas

From the highways of Texas to the San Jacinto Battleground, state agencies now aim to maximize the use of native grasses rather than opting for whatever was cheapest or fastest-growing, as they did decades ago.

Enlarge

EPA Says Texas Firms Won't Face Delay on Permits

  • by Erika Aguilar
The Environmental Protection Agency took public comment in Dallas on Friday on its new rules for greenhouse gas regulations. Because Texas has refused to establish a greenhouse gas permitting process, the EPA will directly issue permits to companies here — but as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, federal officials say there won’t be a delay for companies wanting to them.

Bill Renews Debate Over Groundwater Rights

Upping the stakes in a long-running debate over groundwater and property rights, state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, filed a bill this week that would give Texas landowners ownership of the groundwater beneath their property. As Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, the filing comes as the Texas Supreme Court considers a similar issue.
Enlarge photo illustration by: Todd Wiseman

Texas Companies Navigate Environmental Agencies' Differences

The politics and rhetoric of the Environmental Protection Agency's multi-front battle with Texas make for a grand spectacle. Behind the scenes, however, there are signs that big industrial plants are trying to move past the stalemate on their own, talking with federal regulators and, in some cases, preparing to meet the demands of the agency.