U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, filed a bill today to waive the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 — a move sure to please Republican state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Energy
TribBlog: Grading the Grid
A consulting firm’s report on the Texas grid operator, ERCOT, includes comments about “dead wood” among the workforce. It recommends staffing cuts and an independent board.
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Environment
Takeover Imminent
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has tweaked some of its air quality rules in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to wrest control of Texas’ permitting authority. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has this report.
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Energy
TribBlog: Joe Barton Says Sorry to BP Chief [Updated]
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP chief executive Tony Hayward, saying that the $20 billion escrow account for spill victims set up by the White House and BP on Wednesday amounts to a “shakedown.” Later Thursday, he retracted his apology to BP, and apologized himself.
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Energy
Panhandling for Water
Within Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer accounts for about 40 percent of all water use, but its levels are declining sharply. In a dry growing season, the High Plains Water District recorded an average drop of 1.5 feet. Meanwhile, the 2007 state water plan projects that the Ogallala’s volume will fall a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060.
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Energy
TribBlog: New EPA Rules Could Put More Cities Over Pollution Limits
The ongoing battle between the EPA and Texas got a little hotter today, and it could get even more intense as the TCEQ works on a plan to comply with stricter ozone regulations.
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Energy
TribBlog: Texas v. the EPA, Round 2
In the latest bout of the state’s legal contretemps with the Environmental Protection Agency, Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that Texas will challenge the federal agency’s decision to disapprove its qualified facilities program.
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Economy
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw and the Houston Chronicle’s Terri Langford on incidents of abuse and mistreatment at residential treatment centers, M. Smith on the state Republican Party platform and 10th Amendment embracers, Galbraith on a pipeline project raising crude concerns and the most important word in water law, Ramsey on former officeholders who are now lobbyists and the possibility of a speaker’s race, Grissom on a fight over solar power in Marfa, Hamilton and Aguilar on the TxDOT audit, Philpott on budget cuts affecting school districts and my conversation with Dallas County D.A. Craig Watkins: The best of our best from June 7-11, 2010.
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Energy
Crude Concerns
In the wake of the Gulf spill, anxiety is building about a proposed pipeline that would run through East Texas, ferrying Canadian oil to Port Arthur and Houston for refining.
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Energy
TribBlog: Waiting on the Water War
The city of Fort Stockton and Fort Stockton Holdings, the company owned by Clayton Williams Jr. and family, have agreed to postpone a hearing on the company’s permit to pump trillions of gallons of water from the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer.