Rainforest Village Battles Big Oil

By | Luke Metzger
Director

The world is watching Ecuador. Oil giant PetroAmazonas has plans to drill in the Amazon rainforest. Many rainforest residents are no doubt fearing a repeat of what happened nearly fifty years ago, when Texaco blasted through the Amazon rainforest, clearing acres of pristine forest land and began drilling for oil. The result was the most massive destruction and contamination of rainforest lands in history along with unprecedented human rights violations. It was the early sixties; and although world-wide activism was at its peak, there were no global public awareness campaigns or social media platforms to halt the determination of such a big oil company. Today, the world is different--environmentally aware and globally connected. There are multi-national commissions and environmental standards in place; yet, deliberate deforestation is still the top threat to the world’s tropical forests. And proposed drilling is a huge threat right now.

We're in one of the worst droughts ever, yet billions of gallons of water are still wasted each year through inefficient practices, leaving very little for recreation and wildlife. The good news is we can meet our water needs and keep our rivers flowing for recreation and wildlife if Texas makes water conservation a priority.

Over the next few days, Environment Texas Research and Policy Center will host town halls meeting in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Brownsville to discuss Texas’s water future. 

Yesterday, the House State Affairs committee held a hearing to consider HB 2026 (Sanford), a bill which would repeal Texas' successful renewable electricity standard. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like the bill is going anywhere.

Voting Records of Key House Committee Members

By | Luke Metzger
Director

Today, House Speaker Joe Straus named his committee assignments. Here is the membership of some of the key committees which deal with the Environment, along with their lifetime Environment Texas voting record.

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