Environment Texas Blog

But Texas Air and Water Threatened    

2006 saw important victories and setbacks for the environment in Texas, with progress for natural areas and wind power, but new threats to Texas’ air and water quality emerging.  

The Good

Preserving Texas

• On Nov. 7, voters approved more than $623 million in bonds to acquire new park land and natural areas and to improve recreation facilities, including $50 million to protect threatened land in the Barton Springs watershed.

• On June 12, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the establishment of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge in east Texas. With more than 75% of the hardwood forest in Texas already destroyed, the old-growth oaks and bald cypress trees along the scenic Neches river are ranked a "number one priority" for conservation by the federal government. Although the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had identified this area for protection as far back as 1985, water developers with the city of Dallas had been pushing to cancel plans to create the refuge so the city could use the site for their proposed Fastrill reservoir. This would have drowned Texas' last best hardwood forests, destroying habitat for wildlife like bobcats, river otters, and the endangered bald eagle. The approval of the refuge means the Service can begin purchasing land to establish the refuge, effectively blocking water developers from building the reservoir.

• On Sep. 20, Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the Northern District of California overturned the Bush administration’s repeal of protections for nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forest lands.  This includes roughly 4,000 acres in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Houston. More.

Clean Energy

• Texas surpassed California to become the nation’s wind energy leader with about 2,600 megawatts of wind turbines installed in the state. Thanks to the passage of Environment Texas-backed SB20 (Fraser), that number will likely double by next year. More.

Restore the Gulf

• On December 9, 2006, the U.S. House and Senate passed the Magnusen-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act, a bill that is critical to maintaining healthy fish populations, marine life and oceans.  The bill mandates an end to overfishing, the first important step toward rebuilding our own depleted fisheries.  The bill also mandates that decisions by regional fishery management councils be based on the findings of their science advisors, rather than on the self interest of members of the councils who are for the most part fishermen. These are major steps forward built on a decent framework that has been in place since 1996. While the bill does not contain everything that the fishery conservation community had hoped for, its authors –to their credit-- resisted attempts to rollback important provisions; and they crafted several important steps forward on conservation. Recent scientific reports in Science and Nature warned about the declining productivity of our oceans because of global warming and the potential worldwide collapse of commercial fisheries. More.

The Bad

Protecting Texas Waterways

• On June 19, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a split decision in two Clean Water Act cases, Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. Army Corps of Engineers. Unfortunately, the Court’s decision opens the door for polluters and developers to continue to attack longstanding Clean Water Act protections. At issue is the Bush administration “No Protection” policy for America’s waters, which eliminates Clean Water Act protections for many small streams and wetlands that feed and clean our great waters. More.

Stop The Coal Plants

• In April 2006, Dallas-based TXU Corporation announced plans to build eight dirty, coal-burning power plants in Texas, in addition to three previously announced projects. Together with seven other proposed coal plants, and one petroleum coke plant (similar to coal), some 19 coal plants are currently on the drawing board for Texas. The 19 plants would emit more smog-forming pollution and brain-damaging toxic mercury and as much global warming pollutants as 20 million cars. More.

Looking Ahead to 2007

2007 will also be a big year for Texas’ environment, with

• the 80th session of the Texas Legislature considering plans to increase funding for state parks, create a solar rebate program and require automakers to produce cleaner cars;
• the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality deciding whether to approve the permits for coal plants;
• and the U.S. Supreme Court deciding on a major global warming case.