Texas
EPA Paused Waste Shipments From Ohio Train Derailment After Texas Uproar
Last week in Houston, politicians protested indignantly as news emerged that hazardous waste from the East Palestine, Ohio, trail derailment was traveling to their city for disposal. Trucks were carrying toxic wastewater more than 1,300 miles from eastern Ohio to inject it underground at the Texas Molecular facility in Deer Park, on the edge of […]
Read MoreDrifting Toward Disaster: Breaking the Brazos
This is Part 2 of Drifting Toward Disaster, a Texas Observer series about life-changing challenges facing Texans and their rivers. For Part 1, see “The Second Rio Grande.” Sign up for the TXO weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Mastodon. Few rivers can claim as strong a connection to Texas’ natural and […]
Read MoreTexas Oilfield Waste Company Contributed $53,750 to Regulators Overseeing a Controversial Permit Application
A company seeking to build an oilfield waste dump near wells and waterways in East Texas has showered regulators with upwards of $50,000 in political contributions since 2019. Texas Ethics Commission filings reviewed by Inside Climate News show that McBride Operating LLC contributed $10,000 to Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) Chairman Christi Craddick on Nov. 28, […]
Read MoreTexas Regulators Won’t Stop an Oilfield Waste Dump Site Next to Wetlands, Streams and Wells
PAXTON, Texas—In the depths of the Piney Woods, a landfill developer wants to build an oil sector dumpsite some 500 yards from this small town’s wells. In Paxton, water lies just a few feet below ground. Ponds and wetlands dot the boggy forests. The East Texas town, population 850, has plenty to drink. But residents […]
Read MoreOutdated EPA Standards Allow Oil Refineries to Pollute Waterways
Neighbors of refineries can see the glowing flares and visible plumes of air pollution rising into the sky. But water pollution often happens at ground level, or below, out of sight for both local residents and environmental regulators. In a new report, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project tallied toxic discharges of unregulated pollutants self-reported by […]
Read MoreTexas Project Will Use Wind to Make Fuel Out of Water
Oil made Texas an energy giant, but even this petroleum powerhouse is working hard to secure a footing beyond fossil fuels. It already generates more wind energy than any other U.S. state, and soon the mighty air that lashes its high plains will power a novel new process: the production of vehicle fuel from water. […]
Read MoreThe ‘Plant Daddy of Dallas’ Is Paving the Way for Clean, Profitable Urban Agriculture
DALLAS—The first thing Michael Bell remembers in life is helping his grandmother in her vegetable garden. He would grow green beans and tomatoes alongside her in their small town of Bowie, Texas. During the winter they protected seedlings using plastic bottles they gathered from friends. Most families raised cattle; Bell’s did too. And while many […]
Read MoreArmy Corps of Engineers Withdraws Approval of Plans to Dredge a Superfund Site on the Texas Gulf Coast for Oil Tanker Traffic
The Army Corps of Engineers has reversed its decision to dredge the Matagorda Bay Ship Channel through a federal Superfund site on the Texas coast midway between Galveston and Corpus Christi. The withdrawal of the Army’s 2020 ruling, announced in a court filing last week, follows a legal challenge this year by Earthjustice, an environmental […]
Read MoreFracking Waste Gets a Second Look to Ease Looming West Texas Water Shortage
Fracked wells in West Texas don’t just produce petroleum. Much more than anything else, they spit up salty, mucky water. Typically, companies have discarded that fluid, hundreds of millions of gallons per day, by injecting it back underground, occasionally causing small earthquakes. But as water becomes more scarce, they’re beginning to reconsider. For now, hydraulic […]
Read MoreQ&A: Robert Bullard Led a ‘Huge’ Delegation from Texas to COP27 Climate Talks in Egypt
Robert Bullard has watched the concept of environmental justice grow from an obscure notion in Houston in the 1970s into a high-profile global movement aimed at abetting pollution and climate change. Bullard, a former dean and professor at Texas Southern University, has authored 18 books on environmental justice, and has attended 18 United Nations climate […]
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