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Is "Big Chicken" Safe?

Critics like Luke Metzger at Environment Texas say chicken waste is killing fish. "Big chicken manufacturers actually are at the top of the list of the biggest water polluters in the state of Texas, actually passing up some of the refineries and chemical plants." Critics say the chicken waste gets in the water and allows algae to choke off the fish.

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Big Chicken in Texas and Worries about Poultry Pollution

It has been dubbed "Big Chicken": the revolution in how poultry is raised and processed. Chicken that once came from small, family farm operations is now produced by networks of huge chicken-growing complexes and sprawling processing plants.

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Toxic chemicals dumped into Texas waterways

Industrial facilities dumped 14.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas’ waterways, making Texas’ waterways the fourth worst in the nation according to a new report released today by Environment Texas.

Report | Environment Texas Research & Policy Center

Wasting Our Waterways

Industrial facilities continue to dump millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s rivers, streams, lakes and ocean waters each year—threatening both the environment and human health. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pollution from industrial facilities is responsible for threatening or fouling water quality in more than 14,000 miles of rivers and streams, more than 220,000 acres of lakes, ponds and estuaries nationwide.

News Release | Environment Texas Research & Policy Center

14.6 Million Pounds of Toxic Chemicals Dumped into Texas’ Waterways

AUSTIN - Industrial facilities dumped 14.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas’ waterways, making Texas’ waterways the fourth worst in the nation according to a new report released today by Environment Texas. Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act also reports that the Houston Ship Channel, the Brazos River, Cottonwood Branch stream, Corpus Christi Inner Harbor and Tankersley Creek received the highest toxic discharges in Texas. 

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Eco-friendly group seeks standard for E. coli levels in state lakes

A statewide environmental group is concerned about the elevated levels of E. coli bacteria in several popular Texas lakes, including Stillhouse Hollow.

Report | Environment Texas Research & Policy Center

What Else is Swimming in Your Favorite Texas Swimming Hole?

Pollution continues to plague many Texas waterways, putting the health of Texans at risk. An investigation by Environment Texas’ Research and Policy Center found that some popular Texas freshwater swimming spots exceeded state or federal health standards at least once in 2010. Furthermore, our research found that the state of Texas’s health standards, testing systems, and public notification protocols are inadequate to properly protect human health, while polluted swimming holes often go unreported to the public, who may continue to swim in unsafe waters.

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State Parks Feel the Effects of Budget Cuts

Visitors to Fort Boggy State Park in Centerville splash around in the park’s drought-dwindled lake while Mark Webb, a biologist for Texas Inland Fisheries, takes photographs of plant life at the edge of the receding water line. He’s checking plants to make sure there’s adequate cover for fish — part of his job keeping an eye on aquatic life around East Texas.

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Christmas Comes Early for Texas State

Environmentalists and Land Commissioner Jerry Patter­son smiling together? It must be Christmas. Or, at least, it must be the Christmas Mountains. After four years of fighting, the rugged mountain range near Big Bend National Park is being transferred from the General Land Office to the Texas State University System to become an outdoor classroom and research area.

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Little resistance expected to LCRA's plan to cut off water to farmers

Texas regulators may just be a rubber stamp on a possible decision to cut off Colorado River water to farmers for 2012, a former state environmental commissioner said.

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