Top 10 accomplishments for Texas’ environment in 2023

Happy holidays from Environment Texas!

It’s time for our annual top 10 of results we helped secure for Texas’ environment. From defending renewable energy to securing historic funding to expand the state parks, 2023 was a very successful year for Environment Texas and our allies.

10. More highway crossings to be built for ocelots in south Texas

Jake Strouf captured this photo of an ocelot mother and her kitten crossing a south Texas roadPhoto by Jake Strouf | Used by permission

This month, the federal highway department awarded the Fish and Wildlife Service $1.8 million to protect the endangered ocelot by installing multiple wildlife underpass crossings at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas. The grant was possible thanks to funding for wildlife corridors in the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Environment Texas, Defenders of Wildlife, and many others campaigned for. These new crossings will join 21 existing crossings built specifically for ocelots in Texas. 

9. We alerted Texans that 90% of our beaches may not be safe for swimming

My daughter plays on the beach in Galveston (we checked Texas Beach Watch first to make sure it was safe)Photo by Luke Metzger | TPIN

Our Safe for swimming? report found that 90% of Texas beaches had unsafe levels of fecal bacteria at least once in 2022 – the highest percentage of any state. We used the findings to call for additional action to fight beach pollution, including repairs to sewage systems, greater use of green infrastructure, and limits on runoff from factory farms. 

8. Castner Range protected

Mexican Gold Poppies bloom in the Castner Range near El Paso. Photo by the late Judy Ackerman, who worked for decades to preserve the area.Photo by Judy Ackerman | Used by permission

In March, President Biden designated the Castner Range, a 7,081-acre former Army artillery facility in the Franklin Mountains near El Paso, as a national monument. This area’s Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem hosts diverse wildlife, including mountain lions, foxes, rabbits and 62 bird species, including majestic eagles and hawks. Environment Texas was proud to support the efforts of the Castner Range Coalition in winning the designation.

7. Houston ISD invests $6 million to get the lead out of drinking water

Girl drinking from a water fountainPhoto by Amanda Mills, USCDCP | Public Domain

In April, the HISD board (in one of its last acts before the state takeover) approved $6 million in federal COVID relief funds to replace lead contaminated water fountains with filtered water filling stations districtwide. Environment Texas worked with the Coalition of Community Organizations (COCO) and the TexPIRG Education Fund to secure the funding. HISD expects to finish installing all the filtered water stations by next month. Much more needs to be done to protect kids’ health, but this is a very important step forward. 

6. San Antonio’s Spruce 1 coal plant to close

Our “Wasting Our Waterways” report found that CPS Energy discharged toxic chemicals from its Spruce power plant into Calaveras Lake. Photo by SASPORTSPIX | Used by permission

In January, the board of San Antonio’s municipally owned utility CPS Energy voted to retire the J.K. Spruce 1 coal power plant by 2028. Environment Texas was part of a large coalition, including Public Citizen, Sierra Club, and MOVE Texas, which had been pushing for the polluting plant’s closure.

5. Our research lays out path forward on climate change 

A climate march outside the Texas CapitolPhoto by Staff | TPIN

In March, we released Climate Change and Texas, a primer summarizing the latest science on how global warming is impacting Texas, the largest sources of pollution, solutions for cutting emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and steps for adapting to those climate changes which are now inevitable. 

4. EPA adopts a strong rule to cut methane pollution from oil and gas

This month, the Biden Administration and EPA Administrator Michael Regan finalized a new rule to cut methane pollution from oil and gas. Among the provisions of EPA’s new methane standards are a phase-out of heavily polluting equipment, regular inspections at all wells — including low-producing wells which account for about half of well site emissions — and significant progress on the wasteful practice of routine flaring. We applauded the rule and urged the state of Texas to step up to the plate, show leadership, and produce a strong state plan to further reduce emissions.

3. Renewable energy defended

Our team in Houston raised alarm bells about the anti-renewable energy attacks at Earth Day and other events around town.Photo by Next Wave Strategies | Used by permission

Renewables are on the rise, producing 31% of the state’s power last year. But as wind, solar and battery storage boom, fossil fuel interests and their allies in the Legislature are working to throw a wrench in the works. This legislative session, Environment Texas and our allies defeated new fees, capricious permitting requirements and even outright bans on renewable energy. 

2. We stood up to Exxon (again)

Flaring at ExxonMobil’s Baytown facility in February 2021Photo by Staff | Used by permission

Environment Texas and Sierra Club’s long-running lawsuit against ExxonMobil faced a new hurdle as the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard an appeal by the oil giant over the $20 million penalty issued against it by the district judge. Our attorneys argued before a rare “en banc” panel of all 17 active judges on the Fifth Circuit that Exxon needed to be held accountable 

for millions of pounds of illegal pollution at its Baytown refinery and chemical plant complex. Working together with Fenceline Watch, we brought residents of Baytown to New Orleans to attend the hearing. The Washington Post ran a front page story about the case. This year, we also worked with Environmental Integrity Project to challenge Exxon’s planned expansion of its Baytown olefins unit. Our “contested case” hearing just wrapped up today.

We expect rulings in both matters sometime in the new year.     

1. One billion dollars to expand Texas state parks

Some folks were pretty skeptical when we first launched our campaign to secure $1 billion from the Texas Legislature to buy land for our state parks. And understandably so! The Legislature isn’t often known for prioritizing conservation and we were asking them to make the biggest investment in nature in Texas history. As nature documentary filmmaker Ben Masters, who produced a video for Prop 14, said: “The bravery and ambition of Environment Texas borders on lunacy.  I love it.” 

But working together with conservative activist Doug Deason, we recruited Sen. Tan Parker (R- Flower Mound) to carry the bill creating the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund. Sen. Parker told the Waco Tribune Herald, “the two of them came to me, and I said, ‘Guys, I love this. I love the idea of doing something big on the 100th anniversary. The three of us put our heads together and brought together an incredible coalition.” We then won at the Legislature and again at the ballot box. 

To borrow from Prince, let’s go crazy again in 2024 on behalf of Texas’ environment.