Tag Archives: air pollution
Report: Oil and Gas Producers May Be Pushing the Permian Basin Past Federal Air Quality Limits
Sulfur dioxide levels in the vast West Texas region may be hitting dangerous levels. Meanwhile, the state is hardly bothering to monitor the pollutant.
In the Permian Basin of West Texas, there’s something in the air. For the oil and gas industry, it must be the smell of money — lots of it. But for the peop...Read More
The EPA Told Texas to Crack Down on Dangerous Air Emissions in 2015. The State Never Did, and Now It Won’t Have to.
Trump’s EPA rescinded a rule that would have forced Texas to close a loophole exploited by industrial polluters in 97 percent of illegal emission events.
May, 22, 2015, was a red-letter day for Hilton Kelley. The 58-year-old environmental justice activist was on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., 1,300 miles from ...Read More
A New Study Shows that the Oil and Gas Industry is Wasting a Shocking Quantity of Natural Gas in Texas
Frackers are burning millions of dollars worth of natural gas — releasing hazardous chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air, worsening climate change and creating health risks.
A new study by researchers at the University of Southern California and San Francisco State University found that oil and gas operators in South Texas burned al...Read More
How Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Appointment Would Affect Texans’ Air, Water and Land
The controversial Supreme Court nominee has a track record of siding with industry interests over environmental protections.
Media attention has been riveted on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., this week, from his dodgy answers o...Read More
Report: Oil and Gas Production Is Making People Sick in Rural Texas
“The price of living near oil and gas shouldn't be giving up your health.”
Sue and Jim Franklin’s double-wide mobile home at the foot of the Davis Mountains in far West Texas is usually sealed up tight with the air conditioner blasti...Read More
Report: Loopholes Allow Polluters to Get Away With Worsening Air Quality
A new report finds TCEQ only issued fines for about 3 percent of unauthorized air pollution releases from 2011 to 2016.
Every year petrochemical refineries, chemical plants, oil and gas wells and other facilities emit thousands of tons of pollutants illegally into the air. The Te...Read More
After 17 Years, EPA Settles Racial Discrimination Case Against TCEQ
TCEQ has agreed to install an air monitor in a majority African-American neighborhood near the Beaumont Exxon refinery, but advocates say it’s too little, too late.
Reverend Roy Malveaux learned in the late 1990s that reporting the overwhelming rotten-egg smell coming from ExxonMobil’s Beaumont refinery was fruitless. Man...Read More
Bill Aims to Protect Communities of Color from Polluting Concrete Facilities
Senator Borris Miles’ bill requires concrete crushing facilities to be located at least 440 yards away from parks and playgrounds.
Concrete crushing plants, which recycle concrete from demolished roads and buildings, can emit plumes of fine dust, worsening nearby residents’ asthma and oth...Read More
Public Comment Bill is Latest GOP Effort to Chip Away at Public Participation
In 2015, the Texas Legislature shifted the burden of proof in opposing permits from the company to the public.
In 2015, the Texas Legislature shifted the burden of proof in opposing permits from the company to the public....Read More