The Texas Tribune analyzed previously unreported air monitoring data and records from the 2019 ITC chemical disaster near Houston and found that high benzene levels lingered in the air for two weeks after public health measures were lifted. Experts say more shelter-in-place advisories should have been issued.
Alejandra Martinez
Alejandra Martinez is a Fort Worth-based environmental reporter. She’s covered the impacts of petrochemical facilities on Black and brown communities, including investigating a chemical fire at an industrial complex and how the state's air monitoring system has failed Latino communities. Her work on climate change includes exploring the health effects of extreme heat and how extended droughts affect water resources. Before joining the Tribune in 2022, Alejandra was an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America Corps Member and then covered Dallas City Hall. She also has worked as an associate producer at WLRN in South Florida. A Houston native, Alejandra studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and speaks fluent Spanish.
Posted in
Environment
Texas Senate seeks increased penalties on polluters as it renews state’s environmental agency
The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement on repeat violators and increase public outreach.
Posted in
Environment
Senator’s bill would fine Texans for multiple environmental complaints that don’t lead to enforcement
The bill would impose fines when residents make more than three complaints to the state environmental agency in a year if they don’t result in enforcement action. Critics warn the bill would discourage people from reporting pollution.
Posted in
Environment
Environmental groups sue EPA over water pollution standards
A coalition of environmental groups claims the EPA has failed for decades to update limits on the discharge of some dangerous chemicals into waterways. Most of the worst polluters are in Texas.
Posted in
Environment
A rare Texas wildflower gets protection under the Endangered Species Act
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared the bracted twistflower, native to the Edwards Plateau, a threatened species, a month after putting another Texas plant on the endangered list.
Posted in
Environment
The EPA wants to limit how much soot you breathe. Here’s what it means for Texas and one of its historic Black towns.
Federal limits on particulate matter commonly known as soot could mean cleaner, safer air for Texans. But environmental experts worry Texas may snub rules.
Posted in
Politics
Mexican political parties are courting voters living in Texas ahead of Mexico’s presidential election
Mexican migrants in Texas could play a role in choosing the country’s next president next year, and Mexican political leaders are setting up outreach networks — including one in Dallas — to court expat voters.
Posted in
Environment
Environmental advocates push feds to investigate Texas’ enforcement of water quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to investigate allegations that the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s system of issuing permits has made it too easy for industries to contaminate rivers, lakes and estuaries.
Posted in
Environment
Environmentalists push for tougher oil and gas restrictions to protect rare whale in Gulf of Mexico
Environmental scientists say Rice’s whale, discovered in 2021, faces extinction unless the federal government sets tougher restrictions on oil and gas activities in the gulf.
Posted in
Economy
Oyster harvesters hit hard as Texas closes reefs for conservation and public health
Oyster harvesters on the Texas coast are facing twin threats to their way of life: The state shut down reefs to prevent overfishing and following recent reports of illness after people ate Texas oysters.