Congress is known for having arcane battles, but the biggest fight these days in water law is over a single word in a 1970s-era measure designed to reduce pollution in America’s waterways. Texas environmentalists and ranchers are anxiously awaiting the outcome.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Energy
TribBlog: Let’s Hear It for Building Codes
Texas will adopt stricter energy efficiency requirements for new buildings, the State Energy Conservation Office announced today. They will go into effect in 2011 and 2012.
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Energy
TribBlog: The Spillover Effect
The oil spill has so far bypassed Texas, but Houston could still see a big impact — in the courtrooms.
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Criminal Justice
The Brief: June 2, 2010
The Fort Hood shooter made his first courtroom appearance Tuesday, but a trial, the military court decided, won’t happen until October.
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Energy
The Pollution “Police”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has nearly doubled its number of administrative enforcement actions against polluters in the last five years — yet critics charge the agency still levies penalties too small to act as a deterrent.
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T-Squared
T-Squared: Now With More Energy…
Effective today, the Trib has a dedicated energy reporter on staff: Kate Galbraith, formerly of The Economist and The New York Times.
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Environment
Plug it, Mr. President
There was mixed reaction in Texas to the president’s remarks yesterday on the response to the Gulf oil spill, which critics have labeled “Obama’s Katrina.” KUT’s Matt Largey reports.
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Energy
“Accidents Happen Sometimes”
In the wake of the BP catastrophe, former Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson is defending the federal Minerals Management Service, which he led during the Exxon Valdez spill. “Was there a failure of regulation? I don’t know,” he says. “There may not have been.”
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Energy
TribBlog: W. is for Wind
Former President George W. Bush appeared in rousing, joke-cracking form in a rare speech this morning the American Wind Energy Association’s conference in Dallas. He praised Texas wind energy, bashed the media, refused to bash his successor and said his grandchildren will be driving electric cars. He also gave away the first line of his forthcoming memoir, a quote from his wife that got him to quit drinking.
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Energy
TribBlog: Room at the Top, and Then Some
Jan Newton — who chairs the board of directors at the state’s electric utility grid operator — is stepping down from that post, leaving the agency with interim officeholders and holes in key positions at the top of its organization chart.