Photo: DeSmog Blog
It can be jarring to see bad vote tallies after you put in so much work raising awareness across the state about something so clearly risky, such as allowing our rubber stamp state agency (TCEQ) to issue permits for frackers to dump their wastewater into our rivers and streams. Our lobby team also put in considerable effort making sure our state legislators knew how short-sighted HB 2771 is.
Nevertheless, the reality is now in front of us AGAIN how much the Texas Legislature is owned by the oil and gas industry. On Wednesday afternoon, the bill by State Rep. J.M. Lozano, came to the House floor and passed on a record vote 105-35.
That might shock some who thought, with more Democratic victories in the last election, something so clearly pro-polluter would have been more difficult to pass. The vote margin would have been slightly tighter if you take the “after the fact” sentiments of a handful of representatives who say they actually intended to vote the other way. If those corrections are added, the vote on second reading would have been 103-41. There were 22 Democrats joining Republicans (not one Republican voted against the bill after the clarifying notes were added to the record).
Now several Democratic House members offered good amendments on the bill that we supported and helped get drafted. First, Rep. John Turner offered an amendment accepted by the author which delayed the requirements of the bill for one year to help better develop the program, from September of 2020 to September of 2021. This is important because we hope to have a more favorable federal administration then and TCEQ will need time to develop rules. Turner ended up voting for the bill, but this is common that a member will vote for a bill if the author agrees to improve the bill.
Three other good amendments by Reps. Gervin-Hawkins, Ramos, and Zwiener were offered to provide more protections and public participation. Unfortunately, two were defeated on “points of order” while the other - Zwiener’s amendment that would have required disclosure of any fracking chemicals that go into our state waterways - was defeated on a 92-55 vote.
HB 2771 would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to seek delegation from the Environmental Protection Agency to authorize the dumping of wastewater from oil and gas operations into our state’s streams, rivers, reservoirs, and bays. The Sierra Club does not support suddenly opening up our state to dumping wastewater from oil and gas operations, which includes chemicals used in “fracking” that can contain chemicals that can cause cancer and birth defects, and certainly not before significant study and the development of water quality standards. Afterall, we don’t even know what is in the toxic soup oil and gas producers send down their holes, nor what comes back as “produced” water.
The bill is up for third reading very soon in the House, then heads over to the Senate, where we doubt it will face enough opposition to stop it. That shouldn’t stop you from expressing your disappointment with your state representative if they voted for this bad bill. Here is a list of how they voted, corrected with after the fact clarifications.
Here’s a link to the Member Directory. And here's our acton alert in case you haven't let your State Rep know how you feel about this bill. One more vote in that chamber before it goes to the Senate.
How They Voted
For
Allison
Anderson
Ashby
Bailes
Bell, C.
Bell, K.
Biedermann
Blanco
Bohac
Bonnen
Buckley
Burns
Burrows
Button
Cain
Canales
Capriglione
Clardy
Coleman
Cortez
Craddick
Cyrier
Darby
Davis, S.
Dean
Deshotel
Dutton
Fierro
Frank
Frullo
Geren
Goldman
Guerra
Guillen
Harless
Harris
Hefner
Herrero
Holland
Huberty
Hunter
Johnson, J.E.
Kacal
King, K.
King, P.
King, T.
Klick
Krause
Kuempel
Lambert
Landgraf
Lang
Larson
Leach
Leman
Longoria
Lozano
Lucio
Martinez
Metcalf
Meyer
Middleton
Miller
Moody
Morrison
Munoz
Murphy
Murr
Noble
Oliverson
Paddie
Parker
Patterson
Paul
Phelan
Price
Raney
Raymond
Reynolds
Romero
Schaefer
Shaheen
Sheffield
Sherman
Shine
Smith
Smithee
Springer
Stephenson
Stickland
Stucky
Swanson
Thompson, E.
Tinderholt
Toth
Turner, J.
VanDeaver
Walle
White
Wilson
Wray
Zedler
Zerwas
Against
Allen
Anchia
Beckley
Bernal
Bowers
Bucy
Calanni
Cole
Collier
Dominguez
Farrar
Flynn
Gervin-Hawkins
Gonzalez, J.
Gonzalez, M.
Goodwin
Gutierrez
Hernandez
Hinojosa
Howard
Israel
Lopez
Meza
Minjarez
Morales
Neave
Nevarez
Ortega
Pacheco
Perez
Ramos
Rodriguez
Rose
Rosenthal
Talarico
Thierry
Thompson, S.
Turner, C.
Vo
Wu
Zwiener