From our blog: Houston’s CEER and HOME coalitions issued a joint questionnaire to all Mayoral candidates and published all responses. Read what the candidates have to say about the environment, affordable housing, transparency and other key issues here.
Read More
Texas Tribune: A year after the Texas Supreme Court dealt a death blow to municipal bans on plastic bags, legislative efforts to revive them have fallen flat, and ranchers, city leaders and environmental groups say plastic bag litter is as big a problem as ever.
KHOU News Houston: The 12-page report identified a total of 532 mishandled incidents across every sector of the city from January to June.
NBC News DFW: The resolution received unanimous support from all five Dallas County Commissioners. Republican J.J. Koch joined the four Democrats in voting for the measure.
Waste Dive: Texas is known for being less restrictive than some states when it comes to solid waste permitting — especially for landfills — so the passage of these seemingly minor laws is notable.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: As lawmakers talked this session about the damage and destruction their communities suffered when Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017, environmental advocates said two words were missing from the conversation: climate change.
Austin Chronicle: While the 86th was not a halcyon session for environmental progress – no surprise, alas, in Texas – there was indeed some limited improvement.
From our blog: Texas Campaign for the Environment worked with neighbors of waste facilities or proposed waste facilities to get two good bills passed into law. We also helped defeat some legislation that would have made it more difficult to oppose pollution permits and pre-empt local governments when it came to waste facilities and tree ordinances, for instance.
San Antonio Current: In the closing hours of the legislative session, Texas lawmakers voted to approve a controversial measure that would make it a felony for protesters to interrupt the construction of oil pipelines.
Mother Jones: The fight against a Texas pipeline just got a little more challenging. The Texas Senate passed legislation that makes interfering with pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and $10,000 in fines.
