Sierra Club Announces Its 2020 State and Local Endorsements in Texas
September 25, 2020
The Sierra Club Political Committee of Texas has completed its full slate of state and local endorsements for the 2020 General Election! Endorsements include candidates running for Railroad Commissioner, State Senate, and State House, in addition to...
The Grid is Changing in Texas, But Can We Overcome Transmission Constraints?
September 25, 2020
The big picture of renewable energy in Texas generally looks pretty optimistic. In Texas’s main electric grid known as ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), which covers about 80 percent of the state, renewable energy and storage continue...
TCEQ Makes Moves to Allow Fracking Wastewater to Be Dumped Into Surface Waters
September 24, 2020
In 2019, despite many concerns expressed by the Sierra Club and others, HB 2771 was signed into law, which requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to ask the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for permission to run a...
High-Level Radioactive Waste Dump Could Come to Texas
September 23, 2020
We tried to warn the Texas legislature about the dangers of storing low-level nuclear waste in West Texas years ago. Predictably, the majority of them shrugged us off- and now there is a much more serious predicament unfolding. We told them it was...
Civil Rights Complaint Leads TCEQ to Open Rulemaking On Language Access For Public Input in Environmental Permitting Decisions
September 23, 2020
The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will be holding a series of virtual public meetings in October to get input from the public about ways to improve their public notice process in order to comply with Title VI of the 1964 Civil...
Sierra Club Calls on EPA to Take Action On Coal Pollution in Texas Panhandle and North East Texas
September 22, 2020
Sierra Club filed a new report with legal comments advocating that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognize that Southwestern Electric Power Company’s (SWEPCO) Pirkey Coal Plant near Longview is worsening the region’s existing Sulfur...
Hurricane Laura Proves We Need Better Community Protection From Natural Disasters and Pollution
September 1, 2020
Last week, Hurricane Laura made landfall at the Texas-Louisiana border, an area that is consistently battered with the dual dangers of natural disasters and chronic pollution from the petrochemical industry. Almost exactly this time last year, the...
Houston Community Continues Fight Against Valero For Polluting Air With Hydrogen Cyanide
August 28, 2020
In the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, a bevy of lawyers, citizens and organizations joined a virtual meeting with State Office of Administrative Hearing (SOAH) Judge Christian Siano proceed over a Preliminary Hearing to determine which “parties”...
Flaring, Venting and Methane Townhall Calls on Texas to Take Steps on Oil and Gas Pollution
August 27, 2020
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club joined forces with Green Latinos, Environmental Defense Fund, Environment Texas, and Texas State Representative Erin Zwiener (D-HD45) earlier this week in hosting a virtual townhall on oil and gas air...
Plan to Reopen Gibbons Creek Coal Plant Takes A Hit as TMPA Backs Out of Interconnection Agreement
August 27, 2020
Following significant community pressure, the Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA)—comprised of Bryan, Denton, Garland, and Greenville—has submitted a letter to the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) announcing that the current Interconnection...