ICN Texas - Inside Climate News

Gulf Coast Petrochemical Buildout Draws Billions in Tax Breaks Despite Pollution Violations

By Dylan Baddour — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:05:00 +0000

A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project compiled data on every U.S. plastics plant built, expanded or proposed since 2012, revealing massive growth in Texas.

By Dylan Baddour

A booming petrochemical buildout on the Gulf Coast has drawn billions of dollars in public subsidies from state tax abatement programs despite regular violations of pollution permits, according to a new report released Thursday.

New Lake Will Fuel Petrochemical Expansion on Texas Coast

By Dylan Baddour — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Blocked in Louisiana, Formosa Plastics looks to grow around Lavaca Bay instead. But it and other interested industrial plants are waiting for more water.

By Dylan Baddour

Texas regulators last month approved water rights for a new, 2,500-acre reservoir to meet the growing needs of chemical plants, refineries and other industries on the Gulf Coast.

LNG Exports From Mexico in Limbo While Pipeline Project Plows Ahead

By Martha Pskowski — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 10:10:00 +0000

The Biden administration’s pause impacts LNG development in Mexico, where companies eye shorter routes to Asia.

By Martha Pskowski

Leer en Espanol.

Texas Panhandle Wildfires Wreak Havoc on the State’s Agriculture Industry

By Kiley Price — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 20:36:50 +0000

Fires in the Texas Panhandle are expected to kill thousands of cattle, putting the state’s agriculture industry at risk.

By Kiley Price

For the past week, the Texas Panhandle has been covered in flames. The ongoing inferno—the largest wildfire in the state’s history—has burned up nearly 1.3 million acres of land, and firefighters have only managed to contain 15 percent of it as of Sunday.

Record Winter Heat, Dry Air Helped Drive Panhandle Fire Risk

By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 09:30:00 +0000

Texas has a wildfire season in winter, but climate change is extending it, scientists say.

By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune

This article was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans—and engages with them—about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

‘Nobody Really Knows What You’re Supposed to Do’: Leaking, Abandoned Wells Wreak Havoc in West Texas

By Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News and Carlos Nogueras, Texas Tribune — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:30:00 +0000

A recent well blow-out in West Texas highlights the challenges of finding and plugging thousands of wells across the state.

By Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News and Carlos Nogueras, Texas Tribune

IMPERIAL, Texas—Mounds of dirt towered over Bill Wight, who stared helplessly at the piles that had once been pasture for his cattle.

After Fighting a Landfill Expansion, Houston Residents Await EPA Consideration of Stricter Methane Regulations

By Keaton Peters — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Environmental groups said the rule revisions constitute “low hanging fruit” to lower emissions of the potent greenhouse gas, which would benefit both neighbors and the climate.

By Keaton Peters

When the Hawthorne Park Landfill opened in 1977, it transformed everyday life for residents of Carverdale, a historically Black neighborhood in northwest Houston. Myra Jefferson has seen pests and roaches from the dump multiply over the decades and remembers yellow dust from the rot sticking to everything.

Railroad Commission Approves Toxic Waste Ponds Next to Baptist Camp

By Martha Pskowski — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Martin Water is building an oil and gas waste recycling facility next to the Circle 6 Baptist Camp in the Permian Basin despite concerns of water and air pollution.

By Martha Pskowski

State of Denial: A continuing series about Texas’ environmental regulators.

‘A Dream Deferred:’ 30 Years of U.S. Environmental Justice in Port Arthur, Texas

By James Bruggers — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 10:05:00 +0000

On the 30th anniversary of the first presidential executive order on environmental justice, a report from the fencelines in the booming Southeast Texas petrochemical corridor.

By James Bruggers

PORT ARTHUR, Tex.—Downtown Port Arthur has the feel of a ghost town, until you look to the horizon.

After Another Year of Record-Breaking Heat, a Heightened Focus on Public Health

By Victoria St. Martin — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 10:05:00 +0000

With heat deaths surging in Texas, Arizona and across the nation, researchers model a myriad of heat effects on the human body and focus on the disproportionate impacts suffered by the elderly and people of color.

By Victoria St. Martin

He noticed the light-headedness first.