The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to offer up all remaining areas in the Gulf of Mexico for auction to oil and gas companies tomorrow, offering leases for approximately 78 million acres in Federal waters -- more than five times the amount of oil and gas lease acreage that the agency currently manages.
Saying proposed changes to state flaring regulations will do little to curb pollution, a group of legislators and advocates called on the state’s oil and gas regulator to go back to the drawing board and develop a plan to end routine flaring. Even as the Commissioners took up the modest proposal at this morning’s Railroad Commission open meeting, Commissioners were expected to approve another 59 “exceptions” on their consent agenda allowing oil and gas operators to be able to flare and vent.
AUSTIN - Texas has long led the nation in total wind power capacity, but with 21.9% of total electricity sales coming from renewable energy, Texas ranks just 11th in the nation for its percentage of renewables, according to a new study by the Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and North Dakota all had more than 45% renewable power in 2019.
Illegal air pollution from Texas industrial facilities more than doubled under the Trump administration, rising to 174 million pounds in 2019, according to a new report by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. The group pointed to lax EPA enforcement and environmental rollbacks as contributing to the increase.
"No one expects these disasters to happen in central Texas, but the reality is that plastics are everywhere. They’re in our pantries, our clothes, and even our drinking water -- and when a plant catches fire, they’re in our air, too. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to start asking bigger questions about why we allow the petrochemical industry to pollute our air in order to make plastic products that we often don’t need in the first place."
Environment Texas Research and Policy Center is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change.
