Environment Texas Blog

Check out our blog for the latest in the fight to protect Texas’ environment.

Environment Texas' Ayleen Perez Marty visits Washington, D.C.

By heather - 2009-06-16 Environment Texas' Ayleen Perez Marty is in Washington, D.C., this week to visit with the Texas Congressional delegation in support of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

The Perfect Pork Chop Vs. New Strains of E Coli

By luke - 2009-06-12 This morning on Morning Edition, NPR Host Steve Inskeep interviewed Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, and Robert Kenner, director of Food, Inc., a new film which "lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA". Your can listen to the NPR interview here.

Texas Parks and the 81st Legislature

By luke - 2009-06-03 An update on how Texas parks fared in the 81st Legislature from George L. Bristol, President of the Texas Coalition for Conservation: The 81st session of the Texas Legislature is over. While there may be a special session, parks and conservation issues will not be on the agenda as all the major bills affecting them passed.

Overview of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)

By luke - 2009-05-19 On May 15, 2009, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey introduced the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), comprehensive energy legislation. This document summarizes key parts of the bill, including energy efficiency standards, the renewable electricity standard, global warming pollution reduction requirements, and the distribution and use of pollution allowances under the bill.

Vote Count on SB 541

By luke - 2009-05-20 The House State Affairs committee approved SB 541 today on a vote of 9-5. SB 541 (Kirk Watson) requires the development of 1500 megawatts of solar, geothermal and biomass by 2020. Rep. David Farabee is carrying the bill on the House. Here's how the vote broke down:

Where We Stand in the Texas Legislature

By luke - 2009-05-27 You may have read that many bills died last night as a result of the "voter-id" slowdown in the Texas House of Representatives. Despite the fact that many clean energy bills were placed on the Major State Calendar (the priority bills that get taken up first), the House hadn't yet debated them by midnight, thus killing them. But all is not lost yet. The Senate still has until midnight tonight to approve bills that have already been approved by the House (before the voter id showdown). These bills can be amended to include some of our priorities.

Response to ERCOT analysis on Climate Legislation

By luke - 2009-05-12 ERCOT has issued a new analysis claiming that federal climate legislation will increase electricity costs dramatically. This is a very, very narrow analysis.

Go Solar: Make Utilities Give Consumers a Fair Price for Surplus Electricity

By luke - 2009-05-09 On Monday, the Texas House will decide whether to promote solar energy by requiring utilities to pay consumers fair prices for surplus solar power or to codify anti-consumer practices in order to benefit big utilities like TXU. Here's the story.

Mayor Hardberger to Gonzalez: Back Clean Energy

By luke - 2009-05-11 On Friday, San Antonio Mayor Hardberger and council members Galvan, Cortez, Rodriguez, Ramos sent a letter to Congressman Charlie Gonzalez urging him to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Solar Bills on the Move

By luke - 2009-05-05 Two of our priority bills promoting renewable energy are on the move at the Texas Capitol. The first, SB 545 by Sen. Troy Fraser, has passed the Texas Senate and will soon be heard in committee in the House. The second, SB 541 by Sen. Kirk Watson, has passed the Senate Business and Commerce committee and will soon be heard on the Senate floor.

Case for Public Transit: A College Student's Perspective

By heather - 2009-05-04 As a car-less college student, I am among the most qualified to judge the Houston public transportation system, and I am deeply convinced that the system must be updated and the light rail system expanded.

Austin Energy Weakens Renewables Plan

By luke - 2009-04-30 Just last week, Austin Energy announced a revised Draft Generation Plan responding to the slowed economy. The results: continued use of COAL through at least 2020, delaying additions of MORE fossil fuel generation and ELIMINATING 75 MW of renewables from the plan.

San Antonio Candidates Side with Obama over CPS Energy

By luke - 2009-04-29 On Friday, April 17, the San Antonio Environmental Network held a forum featuring three of the main contenders in the May 9 San Antonio mayoral election: Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, Trish DeBerry-Mejia, and former Councilman Julián Castro.

Big Oil Blocks Parks Funding

By luke - 2009-04-29 It appears a deal to create funding for Texas parks land acquisition has fallen apart over opposition from the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TexOGA).

Bill Would Help Beaches and Parks

By luke - 2009-04-27 CSHB (committee substitute house bill) 3971 would create a permanent funding source for beach erosion projects.

Protect our Parks by Properly Funding Them

By alejandro - 2009-04-10 As the summer draws closer, bringing sunshine and warmer weather, people begin looking for fun outdoor recreational activities to take advantage of the beautiful weather. Many are turning to Texas state parks for their leisurely weekends, a wise decision. Really, what better place is there to camp, hike, fish, or just enjoy the spring breeze and green scenery? Unfortunately for many of these enlightened individuals headed for Big Bend Ranch or Dinosaur Valley, some of these state parks may not be as pristine and beautiful as they once were. The reason? For the past fourteen years, Texas state parks have been vastly under-funded.

TX Board of Education Questions Global Warming

By alejandro - 2009-04-04 The State Board of Education and Representative Mavis Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, just passed a ruling requiring all textbooks used in the state of Texas to “analyze and evaluate differing views on the existence of global warming.” This sounds like fiction... but it's not, and it's happening right now!

Recycling in Texas, one plastic bag at a time

By alejandro - 2009-04-01 Taking initiative to cut down on landfill space and encourage more environmentally friendly shopping, Texas is debating two new bills that will decrease the number of disposable plastic grocery bags in the landfills.

Solar Day and Obama Budget

By luke - 2009-03-26 On Tuesday, the Texas Senate Business and Commerce committee held the much-anticipated “Solar Day”, hearing over a dozen solar, renewable energy and efficiency bills. At the same time, the House State Affairs committee considered four bills to improve interconnection and net metering standards for distributed renewable generation owners. Dozens of people, including representatives of Texas Business for Clean Air, the Solar Alliance, Heliovolt, First Solar, the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and Standard Renewable Energy spoke in support of the bills. Unfortunately, representatives of the Texas Association of Manufacturers and others testified in opposition.

Why go solar... in less than 4 minutes!

By luke - 2009-03-16 As the submissions deadline for Environment Texas’ solar video contest has passed, please help us choose the winner. You can check out the videos and vote for your favorite! Here’s a review of each video to give you a glimpse of what was submitted.

More roads? No way! Especially not through the Katy Prarie

By luke - 2009-03-20 The Texas Department of Transportation is working hard to quickly push through approval for Segment E of the proposed Grand Parkway, spending $181 million from our Texas' stimulus funds. But the proposed road will run 15 miles through the Katy Prairie, a historical stretch of pasture and prairie, disrupting 700 acres of the land and the wildlife that reside there.

Testimony to Energy Resources, Environmental Regulations committees

By luke - 2009-03-12 Yesterday, the House Energy Resources and Environmental Regulations committees held a joint hearing to consider the impact that federal caps on carbon emissions will have on Texas. While the committee largely focused on the potential for carbon capture and sequestration, Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger was invited to speak about renewable energy as a carbon reduction strategy.

Texas Environmental Leadership Conference

By luke - 2009-02-26 This past week, Environment Texas hosted the Texas Environmental Leadership Conference at the University of Houston. The event was well attended, and we successfully raised awareness and trained over 100 students and activists on basic organizing skills. Click below to read a summary of the event by one of our interns, Shaziya Bandukia.

Re: Details on Park Funding

By luke - 2007-11-26 Here's a good analysis by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department of the money appropriated by the Legislature to support Texas local and state parks. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20070601b

Broad Coalition of Groups Calls on TxDOT to Not Use Stimulus Funds to Build New Roads and Highways

By luke - 2009-03-03 Earlier today, Environment Texas co-hosted a press conference, jointly with the Citizen's Transportation Coalition, Texans United for Reform and Freedom (TURF), the Sierra Club, Independent Texans, Houston Tomorrow, and TexPIRG, to ask the Texas Department of Transportation to not waste stimulus funds on new toll roads and highways. Click below to get more info.

Momentum for clean energy

By luke - 2009-02-18 It's a beautiful, sunny day in Austin today and time for a quick update. We're now in day 37 of the Texas legislative session and momentum continues to build for clean energy! Federal Economic Recovery Bill Means Billions for Texas Of course the biggest news is President Obama's signing of the economic recovery bill, which includes $78.6 billion for clean energy, energy efficiency, and green transportation. These provisions will reduce pollution and save energy while creating jobs. When fully implemented, these provisions will prevent approximately 68 million tons of global warming pollution annually, reduce oil consumption by 15 million barrels per year, and create more than 1.5 million jobs.

Environment Texas Storms Capitol Hill

By luke - 2009-02-13 This past week, Environment Texas staffers, Alejandro Savransky and Stephen Grace, visited Washington, DC to meet with our federal representatives and their staff.

House Committee Assignments Out

By luke - 2009-02-12 Today, House Speaker Joe Straus announced the committee assignments for the 2009 session. See their Environment Texas scores!

Silent Auction to Benefit Environment Texas

By luke -

Comptroller Issues Disappointing Report on Home Energy Efficiency

By luke - 2008-10-07 Comptroller Combs has released a somewhat disappointing new study on home energy efficiency. The report points out that improving the energy efficiency of existing homes could save the average Texas homeowner $1,791 to $2,507 on electric bills over a five- to seven-year period. If every one of the 5.5 million single-family homes in Texas increased their efficiency by 20 percent, the owners of those homes would save â€œ$1.9 billion annually, for $9.8 billion in savings over five years or more than $13.7 billion over seven years.â€ The report didnâ€™t estimate the emissions reductions of such a program, but they would certainly be sizable.

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