The explosion at the West fertilizer plant killed 14 people, injured over 200, and damaged more than 350 homes. In the wake of the explosion, Texas' local news organizations are investigating the lack of state and national regulation for these plants. Here's the latest on what they have found.Read More >>
This past weekend, I was able to go to the annual Renewable Energy Roundup & Green Living Fair in Fredericksburg, Texas, to talk about our Clean Energy Works for Texas campaign. We talked with people from across Texas about why the Public Utility Commission needs to expand solar and other renewable energy markets in Texas.Read More >>
We are proud to announce that Progress Texas has joined the Clean Energy Works for Texas coalition as part of our first official environmental action. Joining with established environmental and labor groups, our coalition is urging the Public Utility Commission of Texas ("PUC") to make solar energy a priority for Texas.Read More >>
Outside the legal sphere, it's common knowledge that the air and atmosphere are public goods, which the government may neither appropriate for its own ends nor open to exploitation by private interests. Nevertheless, jurists and environmentalists are hailing District Court Judge Gisela Triana as a prophet for saying just that. Here's why the ruling was more than a truism...Read More >>
A twelve-year-old’s school project has scared the pants off the Illinois plastics industry. The industry feels so threatened by Abby Goldberg’s efforts to ban single-use plastic bags in her hometown of Grayslake, IL, that they have lobbied for (and successfully passed) a bill banning bag bans in Illinois. No city, with the lone exception of Chicago, will be able to “regulate the collection, recycling, sale, or use of plastic carryout bags.”Read More >>
The dunes sagebrush lizard, whose habitat is part of West Texas oilfields, lost an important fight two weeks ago. In a decision wildly criticized by environmental groups in Texas, and across the country, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to not add the lizard to the endangered species list.Read More >>
When there is a shared limited resource and individuals act in their own self-interest in consuming that resource, the resource will eventually be depleted. This situation, the tragedy of the commons, underscores one of the many problems of small government, and it is the exact situation Texas has found itself in with water consumption during the drought of the past two years.Read More >>
The chances that Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar cares about the environment are no better than a coin flip. The League of Conservation Voters released their 2011 Congressional scorecard on environmental issues this week. Examining the scores of the Texas delegation, we can see that...Read More >>
