Tag Archives: pollution
TCEQ Report Could Pave the Way for Chemical Plants to Emit More Hazardous Air Pollutants
A new assessment from the agency downplays the risks of ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen.
When the wind blows across Port Arthur, a predominantly African American city on the Gulf Coast, it’s likely carrying toxic gasses like carbon monoxide, sulfu...Read More
Nurdle by Nurdle, Citizens Took on A Billion-Dollar Plastic Company — and Won
A federal judge ruled that a “serial” polluter in Lavaca Bay can face more than $100 million in penalties.
A federal judge ruled last Thursday that Formosa Plastics, a petrochemical company outside Port Lavaca, can be held liable for violating state and federal water...Read More
Millions of Plastic Pellets in Lavaca Bay? Formosa Says it’s Just ‘Trace Amounts’
After decades of polluting the air and water in Point Comfort, Formosa is now being confronted about its release of millions of plastic pellets.
Once a week, Diane Wilson launches her kayak on Cox Creek, a brackish stream near Point Comfort that feeds Cox and Lavaca bays, and paddles for four to five hou...Read More
TCEQ is Finally Doing Something About an East Texas Polluter
After years of inaction, the state environmental agency is poised to force German Pellets to install pollution controls at its Woodville processing plant.
One day in late November, a cloud of white smoke swept through Woodville, a small East Texas town of 2,500 about 55 miles north of Beaumont. It was a moment tha...Read More
After Decades of Living with Pollution, Relocation Program Offers Corpus Christi Residents a Way Out
For decades, residents of Hillcrest were exposed to chemicals from nearby Refinery Row. With “mixed feelings,” residents are now moving out of the neighborhood.
For decades, the residents of Hillcrest — a poor, primarily Hispanic and black neighborhood on the north side of Corpus Christi — have been dealt blow after...Read More
Industrial Wood Processor Accused of Making East Texans Sick May Get to Pollute Even More
Residents near German Pellets facilities in Woodville and Port Arthur allege that air pollution and fires have made them sick, but the state regulatory agency has done little to help, the Sierra Club says.
In late 2014, Lisa Sanchez and her husband, Tony, sold their 13-acre ranchette in The Woodlands, where they lived in a single-wide trailer and raised rescue hor...Read More
Trump’s Border Wall Lands Rio Grande on List of Nation’s Most Endangered Rivers
The river has long suffered from pollution and overuse, but 33 new miles of border wall could be the “last nail in the coffin,” environmentalists say.
Last month, Congress passed a $1.3 trillion spending package to keep the government funded through September. Tucked in between increases in military spending a...Read More
In New Rule, Trump EPA Allows Texas Coal Plants to Pollute Even More Than They Already Do
Past administrations aimed to use the regulation to reduce haze-causing pollution in the Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks.
In a gift to the struggling coal industry, a new air pollution rule finalized by the EPA will allow Texas coal plants to emit almost twice as much sulfur dioxid...Read More
Gulf Coast Environmental Group Sues Plastic Company After Slow Response from TCEQ
The nonprofit San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper and an environmental activist are suing to stop Formosa Plastics from discharging plastic pellets into nearby bays and estuaries.
For the last year and a half, Bobby Lindsey and other volunteers with the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper have collected more than 1,600 clusters of BB-si...Read More
