Investigators say the fire was an accident and started with an engine fire in a manure vacuum truck.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Economy
Texas leaders want a new way to attract businesses here. But they can’t agree on how to do it.
The two chambers have 10 days to cut a deal before the end of the legislative session, and they are miles apart on some of the very foundations of a corporate tax-abatement bill considered to be a priority for Republican state leaders.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas lawmakers consider spending $1 billion for flood prevention and Galveston’s “Ike Dike”
The coastal barrier project may get $550 million from the state this year, and another half a billion could be on the table for flood-control projects. But that’s a fraction of the estimated need for flood mitigation.
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Climate Change in Texas
Texas cotton farmers leading the charge for more government insurance to cover climate, inflation challenges
The federal Farm Bill is must-pass legislation that Congress debates every five years. It includes billions of dollars in farm subsidies and pays for food assistance programs.
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Environment
Texas House moves to crack down on polluters with stricter penalties and heavier oversight
The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement and increase penalties on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Still, environmental advocates say the effort was too “modest” in its reach.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Rural Texas landowners who lost water access due to San Antonio pipeline could soon get relief
Groundwater levels rapidly declined in rural Lee County after San Antonio began pumping the water and moving it 100 miles southwest. A Senate bill would help affected well owners.
Sponsor Post
Cultivating freedom: Texans must vote to strengthen the right to farm
Passing HJR 126 this November will protect our state’s farmers and ranchers while ensuring a continued supply of safe and affordable food for future generations.
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Texas Legislature 2023
House advances bill that could provide billions of dollars for new water projects and fixing aging infrastructure
The bill aims to create a water supply four times the size of Lake Livingston, one of the state’s largest reservoirs. But it may still be a “drop in the bucket” compared to the state’s needs.
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Environment
Texas House approves bills to spend up to $1 billion to buy more state parkland
The Texas House paved the way for a billion-dollar investment in state parks, which one advocate said would create “a new golden age” for the park system. Texas now ranks 35th nationally in state park acreage per capita.
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Energy
Houston-area chemical fire highlights gaps in Texas environmental enforcement
A fire broke out at a Deer Park Shell plant the day after a public hearing on renewing the permit for ITC, a nearby facility that caught fire in 2019, sparking a Texas Tribune/Public Health Watch investigation that documented failures in state and federal oversight.