March 6, 2020
Texans should expect warmer weather, more wildfires and urban flooding, and increased impact from hurricanes through 2036 thanks to climate change, according to a new study from the Office of the Texas State Climatologist at Texas A&M University. The study …
February 25, 2020
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued TPC Group over environmental violations associated with the Nov. 27 explosion at the company’s Port Neches chemical plant, a blast that prompted widespread mandatory evacuations during the Thanksgiving holiday week. The suit, filed …
February 20, 2020
A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn’t liable for flood damage to thousands of Houston homes after the agency cracked open the gates on two massive dams in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. In …
February 10, 2020
An environmental nonprofit has released an analysis of first-of-its-kind air monitoring data that shows benzene levels at 10 U.S. petroleum refineries exceeded limits Eight years ago, two environmental nonprofits sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency was a decade …
December 20, 2019
Environmental and watchdog groups have long criticized the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for taking it too easy on polluters — and the TCEQ has often countered that its job is to coax industrial facilities into compliance rather than slap …
December 9, 2019
A federal judge has approved a historic settlement agreement between Taiwan-based plastics manufacturer Formosa and an environmental activist represented by indigent legal services nonprofit Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. TRLA said the $50 million settlement is the largest in U.S. …
December 3, 2019
The Port Neches, Texas, chemical plant where two explosions and a fire prompted widespread mandatory evacuations on Nov. 27 has a years-long history of state and federal environmental violations. The facility owned by Houston-based Texas Petroleum Chemicals, or TPC Group, …
November 22, 2019
Days before President Barack Obama left office in 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule aimed at preventing tragedies like the 2013 explosion and fire in the tiny Central Texas town of West that killed a dozen first …
July 30, 2019
For about a decade, two of Texas’ top universities have pushed dueling plans to protect the Houston-Galveston region from hurricanes. A concept championed by Texas A&M University at Galveston appears to be winning out as the federal and state governments …
May 2, 2019
Weeks after a massive fire at a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility garnered national attention, a panel of state lawmakers heard dueling testimony Monday night on a bill that would strengthen state oversight of above-ground tanks that hold petroleum products and …