The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on figgy pudding as it brings you this week’s blog roundup.
Off the Kuff covered a shoddy attempt by new Harris County Tax Assessor Don Sumners to disallow voter registration efforts at naturalization ceremonies.
Letters From Texas projected out the grim possibilities for state representative Aaron Peña as he contemplates switching to the Republican Party.
Now is the time to ask Larry Summers to do something REALLY useful. You know, for the good of the country.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks Barack Obama is a putz and Bernie Sanders is a hero. UT professor Galbraith says it all.
Edmundo Rocha’s pays tribute to the passing of civil rights activist and former San Antonio Express-News columnist Carlos Guerra. An unsung hero who never gave up hope for a better Texas.
Aaron Pena’s impending party flip is tied directly to his 2012 Congressional ambitions. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs explains.
Bay Area Houston dog piles on State Representative Aaron Pena. He could get with this. Or he could get with that.
lightseeker at TexasKaos reports on Rick Perry’s latest foray into half-truths and self-serving opportunism. This time he is whipping up a big batch of whacked out claims about the cost of providing health care to uninsured Texans. Check out the details here: Rick Perry , Rabble Rouser .
Neil at Texas Liberal ran a post with pictures he took last spring at the Houston Ship Channel. Neil’s view is that if the world around us is at times not ideal, there are still many things to consider, learn about, and maybe even embrace. This does not mean we should be resigned to a polluted landscape. Neil has been stressing of late in his blog the need for action by average people in the face of the newly empowered Republican party in Austin and Washington. We know from the TPA posts listed here this week that things are a mess. The question is what are we going to do in reply to this mess?
Posted in News Roundup | Tagged Aaron Pena, Barack Obama, south texas chisme, State Representative Aaron Pena, Texas, texas progressive alliance |
December 12, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Image via Wikipedia
In the face of the changes in the political dynamic in Washington, the Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed
environmental regulations. The new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks, but this move will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush while it pushes back deadlines to July 2011 to further analyze scientific and health studies of the smog rules and until April 2012 on the boiler regulation.
Environmental advocates fear a similar delay on the approaching start of one of the most far-reaching regulatory programs in American environmental history, the effort to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases.
The delayed smog rule would lower the allowable concentration of airborne ozone to 60 to 70 parts per billion from the current level of 75 parts per billion, putting several hundred cities in violation of air pollution standards. The agency says that the new rule would save thousands of lives per year, but saving lives now seems to have taken a back seat to saving the costs to businesses and municipalities of having to meet those standards.
Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, Toxics | Tagged air pollution, Air Quality, Air Quality Standards, clean air act, climate change, Global Warming, global warming gases, Texas, United States Environmental Protection Agency |
December 11, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The planned $15 billion expansion of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant suffered a critical funding setback in Congress this week when cuts in the House-passed version of the federal spending bill eliminated loan guarantees that Dallas-based Luminant have said were vital to the plan’s viability.
Republicans who pledge even more budget-cutting will take control of the House and most observers expect that efforts to increase spending on such things as nuclear plant expansions will face even greater obstacles.
Under intense public pressure to slash spending, the House cut the level back to $7 billion in the catch-all government spending bill known as a continuing resolution. The U.S. Senate will vote on the spending bill next week, and it is not clear whether lawmakers who support the loan guarantee program will make an effort to boost the funding before Congress adjourns before Christmas.
Posted in Nuclear | Tagged Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, federal loan guarantees, Nuclear, Nuclear Power, Texas |
December 10, 2010 by Citizen Carol
If you haven’t already pre-registered to celebrate the holidays at the 3rd Annual Austin Green Holiday Party, do so now. It is coming up soon and this year it is hosted by 10 great organizations.
Fiesta Gardens (2100 Jesse E. Segovia St., Austin, TX 78702)
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 from 5:30pm-9:30pm
Registration: Pre-Registration ONLY for this Event (No Cash Accepted at Door)
Network and learn about the hosting organizations and come together for a unified 2011. Celebrate the holidays with us and enjoy music, great food, beer, wine and other beverages, as well as holiday cheer…
Live Music by: Austin Eco-Musicians (Reed Sternberg, Bill Oliver, Frank Meyer and More!) with Tribal Nation, the Austin reggae band later in the evening.
Food: Barr Mansion (Please help support our event sponsor and friend to the environmental community, the Barr Mansion. They are catering this event, even as their own facility is being rebuilt after the fire.)
- Blue Cheese and Winter Squash Sandwich
- Chicken and Pepperoni Sandwich
- Sundried Tomato White Bean Dip with Crostini
- Basil Hummus and Cracker Shards
- Local Organic Farm Salad Station with assorted dressings
Beverages: Beer, Wine, Sodas, Teas and water will be provided by the following sponsors:
The Co-Hosts: Texas Green Network •Public Citizen • SEED Coalition • Sierra Club • Design Build Live • Austin EcoNetwork • Solar Austin • NetImpact • Texas League of Conservation Voters • Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged austin texas, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Texas |
After only a day of deliberation, the jury has returned a guilty verdict on former Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) general manager Bennie Fuelberg on all counts of money laundering, theft, and misapplication of fiduciary property.
During the two weeks of trial, the prosecution showed how Bennie Fuelberg filtered money through Clark, Thomas & White, the co-op’s law firm, to his lobbyist brother, Curtis, and Bill Price, the son of a co-op board member. Fuelberg also misdirected staff, removing oversight of the co-ops legal bills from other managers in an attempt to hide the money being passed through to his brother.
Prosecutor Harry White detailed this in his closing arguments Thursday: “The reason Bennie Fuelberg kept a secret was because he knew it was wrong. What he did was he took money that didn’t belong to him, that belonged to normal people, and gave it to his brother.”
As an aside, Clark, Thomas & White repaid over $4 million in fees to PEC in a separate lawsuit, showing just how much money Bennie siphoned away from the co-op over the years.
Several of us here at Public Citizen are current or former PEC members. We were part of the original investigations and lawsuits that opened up the wretched hive of scum and villany that Fuelberg had turned the co-op into, and have worked for and are proud of the reforms that have taken place in the past few years.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Co-op Reform, Energy | Tagged Bennie Fuelberg, corruption, money laundering, pec, Pedernales, pedernales electric coop, pedernales electric cooperative, public citizen texas, Texas |
December 10, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Barnett Shale
The Texas Railroad Commission (RCC) will hold a special hearing January 10th to look into the complaints of methane in two Parker County drinking water wells that prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week to order a natural gas drilling company to take steps to remediate the problem. The RRC has not yet posted the starting time or place but we will let you know as we hear more.
Both the Railroad Commission and Range Resources, which drilled the Barnett Shale gas wells near the two homes affected by the methane-laden water, accused the EPA of acting in haste when they issued an order of remediation late Tuesday. Both the RRC and Range Resources claimed there was insufficient evidence to blame drilling operations for the situation. But critics of the drilling operations in North Texas suggested that the Railroad Commission was acting more as a booster than a regulator of the natural gas industry.
In its emergency order, the EPA said that its testing suggests that the gases found in the water and gases from Range’s wells “are likely to be from the same source.” The EPA also pointed out that there were no reports of methane in either of the two water wells that were drilled in 2002 and 2005 until after Range sunk its nearby gas wells in 2009.
In the Railroad Commission’s response to the EPA order, all three commissioners suggested the federal agency was needlessly overstepping its authority. And the commission included a detailed timeline showing the progress of its own investigation into the affected drinking water wells.
If you live in the Barnett Shale region and are concerned, we urge you to attend this hearing. We will post details about the hearing as soon as they are available.
If you are concerned that the RailRoad Commission is not being protective of the health and well-being of Texans, consider attending the Sunset Advisory Commission‘s hearing on the RRC and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality next week, December 15th. See our earlier blog for details.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Air Quality, Energy, natural gas, Toxics | Tagged Barnett shale, Texas, Texas Railroad Commission, United States Environmental Protection Agency |
December 9, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Deepwater Horizon rig catastrophe has been called a unique event by the oil industry, but the recent history of offshore drilling suggests otherwise according to an investigative story by the Wall Street Journal.
In the months before and after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the industry was hit with several serious spills and alarming near-misses.
A rig operated by PTT PCL caught fire off Australia in late 2009. - Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A blowout off the coast of Australia left oil flowing into the Timor Sea for weeks. An out-of-control well in the Gulf of Mexico dislodged a 4,000-pound piece of equipment on the deck of the Lorris Bouzigard drilling rig as workers scurried to safety. A gas leak in the North Sea aboard a production platform came within a rogue spark of a Deepwater Horizon-scale disaster off the coast of Norway.
Data from regulators around the world suggest that after years of improvement, the offshore-drilling industry’s safety record has declined over the past two years. In 2009, in the Gulf of Mexico, there were 28 major drilling-related spills, natural-gas releases or incidents in which workers lost control of a well – up 4% from 2008, 56% from 2007, and nearly two-thirds from 2006. If you include the number of hours worked on offshore rigs in the equation, the rate of these incidents rose every year from 2006 to 2009.
There are various possible explanations for the recent spate of problems. Investigations into the Deepwater Horizon and some other recent incidents have pointed to the industry’s difficulties finding and retaining enough experienced workers, its struggles to balance safety priorities with profit demands, and occasional lapses in the face of lax regulation. These challenges have become more pronounced as oil companies continue to push the limits of technology and experience in deeper water, harsher environments and more complex oil reservoirs, the investigators say.
The six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed by the Obama administration ended in October, one month ahead of schedule. Still, the administration reversed plans to expand drilling into new areas.
Public Citizen continues to call for better regulation and stronger accountability for off-shore drilling operations.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Energy, Uncategorized | Tagged bp, Deepwater Horizon, gulf of mexico, offshore drilling, Texas |
December 9, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The Sunset Advisory Commission has put TCEQ on the agenda for December 15th, following the Department of Transportation and the Railroad Commission. What this means is that public testimony on TCEQ should begin sometime after lunch.
We hope some of you can make it to the December 15th hearing. Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly with your questions! Feel free to email us at texasfeedback (at) citizen.org.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged Sunset Advisory Commission, TCEQ, Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, United States Environmental Protection Agency |
December 8, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Is your drinking water safe? -Wikipedia
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ordering a natural gas company in Fort Worth to take immediate action to protect people living near one of its drilling operations who have complained about flammable drinking water coming out of their home faucets.
Read some of our earlier blogs about the process that is suspected of causing these kinds of problems:
Read other recent posts about our regulatory agencies’ failure to adequately insure the safety of Texan’s drinking water:
Natural gas drilling (or fracking) near homes in Parker County west of Fort Worth has caused or contributed to the contamination of at least two residential drinking water wells, and the EPA has confirmed that extremely high levels of methane in local water supplies pose an “imminent and substantial risk of explosion or fire.” The agency also found other contaminants including benzene, which can cause cancer, in the drinking water.
The EPA has issued an imminent and substantial endangerment order under Section 1431 of the Safe Drinking Water Act and has ordered the company to step in immediately to stop the contamination, provide drinking water and provide methane gas monitors to the homeowners. EPA has given the company 24 hours to assure them that it will comply with the order and 48 hours to provide alternative water supplies to affected residents.
To see the EPA’s letter to the company, click here.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Toxics | Tagged Benezene, fort worth, fracking, methane, natural gas, Texas, United States Environmental Protection Agency |
December 8, 2010 by Citizen Carol
A Dust Bowl storm approaches Stratford, Texas in 1935. - wikipedia.org
Texas is not immune to the effects of increasing greenhouse gases, according to the state climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon, of Texas A&M University’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Dr. Nielsen-Gammon also says the international science on climate change is fundamentally sound despite challenges from state officials, and the drought in Central Texas is likely to continue. Below are excerpts from an interview with the Texas Tribune. Continue Reading »
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged climate change, Current sea level rise, greenhouse gas, intergovernmental panel on climate change, Texas |
December 7, 2010 by Citizen Carol
The explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 miners and introduced the country to a caricature of a heartless CEO, Massey Energy’s Don Blankenship (who just last week announced his retirement). If ever there was a moment for forward progress on workplace health and safety, it was in the wake of the Massey tragedy. The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety and Health Act would modestly increase the size of fines for endangering workers, make it a felony to cause the death of a worker by knowingly violating safety rules, protect whistleblowers who call attention to workplace hazards, and deter employers from delaying resolution of citations for violations of workplace health and safety rules. But the business lobby has prevented the bill from moving ahead.
Nevertheless, the House will be voting on the Byrd Mine Safety bill tomorrow afternoon. Call your Congressman if you are concerned about mine safety and tell them to vote for this bill.
UPDATE
Today, December 8, 2010, Congressional lawmakers left workers in the dust when they failed to pass critical mine safety legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 214-193 not to pass the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act (H.R. 6495), which would have empowered the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to protect workers from unsafe workplaces, prosecute corporate bad actors and close dangerous mines.
This year saw several high-profile workplace tragedies, from the 11 workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon to the Tesoro refinery explosion in Washington state. The most deadly disaster occurred in April; 29 mine workers were killed when the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia exploded. These deaths were preventable and illustrate the dire need for the increased worker protections that this legislation would have provided.
The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act would have addressed shortcomings in MSHA’s enforcement authority and allowed it to respond quickly to accidents, withdraw miners from unsafe mines, and prosecute and collect fines from operators of mines with bad safety records. Lawmakers failed to recognize that workers should not have to risk their lives needlessly to earn a living.
For those who contacted their Congressman, thank you for your efforts. Although the bill faces a much bleaker fate under the Republican-led House, Public Citizen calls on Congress to re-introduce the legislation in its next session – and to include protections for all workers.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Coal | Tagged Coal, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety and Health Act, Texas, Upper Big Branch Mine disaster |
December 7, 2010 by Citizen Carol
In an article today by BRENT KENDALL And TENNILLE TRACY of the Washington post, they write that the Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether eight states and other plaintiffs can proceed with lawsuits that seek to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by utilities.
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged supreme court, Texas, the Supreme Court |
December 7, 2010 by Citizen Carol
Truck traffic on IH-35 near Laredo. TX.
According to the state auditor, Texas environmental regulators must recover or account for more than $62 million of a grant program, Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), that’s aimed at improving air quality in some of the nation’s most polluted areas.
TERP provides incentives to individuals, businesses and government agencies that replace old vehicles and industrial equipment with more environmentally friendly models. The program requires participants to take the replaced old-model vehicle out of commission, and destroy it .
Included among the problems outlined in the 52-page audit are:
- 593 grant recipients awarded more than $62 million between December 2006 and July 2010 did not meet all the program’s requirements.
- TERP has dead people’s social security numbers in its database
- TERP’s database contains inaccurate and incomplete information, including about 47 percent of vehicle identification numbers;
- At least 12 vehicles that should have been destroyed under the grant contracts were re-registered in Texas, though environmental regulators say six of those were mistakes.
The audit says Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must improve its applicant selection process, strengthen monitoring of recipients and hold them accountable to program guidelines.
Despite the problems, TERP has been extremely successful as a clean air program and TCEQ says it will make changes to its scoring method so that the program can continue to focus on the most polluted regions, including the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston areas.
Posted in Air Quality | Tagged air pollution, TERP, Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality |
December 6, 2010 by Citizen Carol
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a December 1, 2011 deadline for 13 states to develop plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, as the agency prepares to implement its major new rule January 2.
A dozen of the states plan to submit emissions plans that do not account for GHG emissions, thereby triggering federal control of their GHG permitting process, but the process between EPA and those states is an expected amicable agreement. Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Oregon, and Wyoming will submit plans by December 22 and Kentucky; Clark County, Nevada; Connecticut, parts of California and Nebraska are expected to submit their plans after the beginning of the year.
This will enable 49 of the states to issue permits on or around January 2, either themselves or through the EPA. But Texas, the lone holdout, did not say when it would submit a GHG plan, continuing a standoff with the EPA and the administration on its environmental policies. The state has also filed a series of legal challenges in federal court.
Under the rules of the Clean Air Act, Texas has until December 1, 2011 to submit a revised “state implementation plan” that accounts for regulating GHG emissions. Although the EPA, in its Friday announcement, said it would not wait until then to take control of the state’s GHG permitting and is planning additional actions to ensure that GHG sources in Texas, as in every other state in the country, have available a permitting authority to process their permit applications as of January 2, 2011.
Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming, TCEQ | Tagged clean air act, greenhouse gas, Texas, United States Environmental Protection Agency |
December 5, 2010 by Citizen Carol
If you haven’t already pre-registered to celebrate the holidays at the 3rd Annual Austin Green Holiday Party, do so soon. It is coming up soon and this year it is hosted by 10 great organizations.
Fiesta Gardens (2100 Jesse E. Segovia St., Austin, TX 78702)
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 from 5:30pm-9:30pm
Registration: Pre-Registration ONLY for this Event (No Cash Accepted at Door)
Network and learn about the hosting organizations and come together for a unified 2011. Celebrate the holidays with us and enjoy music, great food, beer, wine and other beverages, as well as holiday cheer…
Live Music by: Austin Eco-Musicians (Reed Sternberg, Bill Oliver, Frank Meyer and More!) with Tribal Nation, the Austin reggae band later in the evening.
Food: Barr Mansion (Please help support our event sponsor and friend to the environmental community, the Barr Mansion. They are catering this event, even as their own facility is being rebuilt after the fire.)
- Blue Cheese and Winter Squash Sandwich
- Chicken and Pepperoni Sandwich
- Sundried Tomato White Bean Dip with Crostini
- Basil Hummus and Cracker Shards
- Local Organic Farm Salad Station with assorted dressings
Beverages: Beer, Wine, Sodas, Teas and water will be provided by the following sponsors:
The Co-Hosts: Texas Green Network •Public Citizen • SEED Coalition • Sierra Club • Design Build Live • Austin EcoNetwork • Solar Austin • NetImpact •
Texas League of Conservation Voters • Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility
Posted in Consumers, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, recycling, Renewables, solar | Tagged Austin EcoNetwork, Austin green holiday party, austin texas, barr mansion, design build live, food, Holiday Celebration, live music, net impact, party, physicians for social responsibility, public citizen texas, SEED Coalition, Sierra Club, Soalr Austin, Texas, Texas Green Network, texas league of conservation voters |
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