Gulf Coast Petrochemical Buildout Draws Billions in Tax Breaks For Polluters
A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project compiled data on every U.S. plastics plant built, expanded or proposed since 2012, revealing massive growth in Texas.
Since 1954
Dylan Baddour covers the energy sector and environmental justice in Texas for Inside Climate News. Born in Houston, he’s worked the business desk at the Houston Chronicle, covered the U.S.-Mexico border for international outlets and reported for several years from Colombia for media like The Washington Post, BBC News and The Atlantic. He also spent two years investigating armed groups in Latin America for the global security department at Facebook before returning to Texas journalism. Baddour holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has lived in Argentina, Kazakhstan and Colombia and speaks fluent Spanish.
A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project compiled data on every U.S. plastics plant built, expanded or proposed since 2012, revealing massive growth in Texas.
Blocked in Louisiana, Formosa Plastics looks to grow around Texas' Lavaca Bay, but it and other industrial plants are waiting for water.
Some areas are starting the year with low water reserves, and forecasters don’t expect substantial relief from the weather.
Environmental lawyers say the state watchdog agency lets polluters escape regulation through legal loopholes.
A judge reversed a 2022 decision by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality which involved its controversial “one-mile rule” to deny hearing requests.
Judges argued that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality illegally enabled Port Arthur LNG to avoid air pollution control requirements.
The state is proposing to approve a 17-year-old standard that leading scientists and public health officials call inadequate.
Conservationists are frustrated as cities contend with thousands of costly leaks as dry soil contracts, causing underground pipes to rupture.
Heat, drought and booming population growth have stressed the aquifers that supply millions of people.
The state has issued only two new coal mining permits in 10 years to a company with a controversial environmental legacy.