research & news
‘Significant interest’ leads TCEQ to schedule public meeting on Max Midstream’s air permit application
Victoria Advocate: If granted, the permit will allow Max Midstream to increase emissions of greenhouse gases measured in carbon dioxide equivalent by more than 100,000 tons per year.
The Corpus Christi Water Wars
Rolling Stone: A coalition of residents is trying to halt the region’s rapid industrial sprawl. The fight is now centered on the water supply for a massive new Exxon SABIC plastics plant in the drought-prone Texas city.
Environmentalist, Indigenous rights activists protest at Liberty Mutual’s Plano campus
Plano Star Courier: The demonstration was organized by the Texas Campaign for the Environment with a stated objective of getting Liberty Mutual to stop making itself essential to energy projects with an adverse environmental impact.
South Texas’ Indigenous tribes seek to block Moda Midstream’s terminal expansion
Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Moda Midstream’s plans to expand its crude oil export terminal in Ingleside could disturb a site sacred to the Indigenous Karankawa and other tribes in the Coastal Bend.
Environmentalists push back on Phillips 66’s offshore crude oil plant
Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Environmental groups say they will fight Phillips 66’s plans to build a Bluewater crude oil export terminal off the coast of Port Aransas.
Dallas Apartment Recycling Law Takes Effect
NBC News DFW: A 2018 law that requires landlords to make trash recycling available for tenants of apartments with eight units or more took effect Wednesday.
Missing the Mark
We examined the benchmarks for more than 80 pollutants in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Missississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas and at the federal level. We have found that Texas benchmarks are substantially weaker than those used in other nearby states. As a result, many sites that could be eligible for Superfund status in other states are not being remediated at all in Texas. Sites that do undergo cleanup in Texas may still be polluted at levels that would require more cleanup in other states.
Opponents say planned ExxonMobil plastics plant would devastate Gulf Coast environment
Corpus Christi Caller-Times: A proposed plastics manufacturing facility in San Patricio County would be an environmental nightmare and fall short of its economic forecasts, according to environmental groups.
Neighbors gear up to oppose Austin Community Landfill expansion
KXAN News Austin: Wednesday, people living in Northeast Austin and Travis County gathered at Barr Mansion to align their vision for stopping an expansion of the Austin Community Landfill.