News Releases

AUSTIN – 779 Texas schools have found lead in their drinking water, according to an analysis of testing data by Environment Texas. The analysis, an update of one completed in March, includes hundreds of additional tests from Austin, Houston, Humble, Alief, Garland and Northwest Independent School Districts. Environment Texas also offered a new toolkit to help parents, teachers, and administrators Get the Lead Out of schools’ drinking water.  Citing a lack of accurate information on lead contamination in water and how schools should prevent it, Environment Texas encouraged parents and teachers to put the new toolkit on their “back to school” reading list.

Texas imposed penalties on less than 3 percent of illegal air pollution releases during industrial malfunctions and maintenance from 2011 through 2016, even though these incidents emitted more than 500 million pounds of pollutants, according to an analysis of state records by the Environmental Integrity Project and Environment Texas. A new report, “Breakdowns in Enforcement,” ranks the worst illegal air pollution events from oil refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities across Texas in 2016. The report concludes that the infrequency and small size of the state’s fines (averaging just three pennies per pound for pollution) are a major problem, because the lack of enforcement means that the owners are less likely to invest money to upgrade and repair known problems.