President Joe Biden and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Wednesday $3.16 billion in new funding through the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) for residential energy upgrades.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that Texas is eligible to receive $60,356,706 for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in fiscal year 2022, with $407,774,759 available over the lifetime of Infrastructure law funding. This is the largest sum awarded to any state.
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced Tuesday that it is moving forward with environmental assessments (EA) of two coastal areas to evaluate the effects of hosting offshore wind activities.
AUSTIN -- The White House announced today that Texas will receive $221 million this year to remove lead service lines as part of a new plan to prevent the lead contamination of drinking water (and reduce other exposures to lead). The Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan features unprecedented federal funding and new requirements on elementary schools and daycares to test for lead in drinking water. Voluntary testing has previously found lead in the drinking water of 71% of Texas schools which tested. Environment Texas and TexPIRG urged the state of Texas to accept the funds (this week Gov. Abbott urged state agencies to reject funds in certain conditions) and urged schools and daycares to act expeditiously to protect kids from lead in drinking water.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s main regulator of the oil and gas industry, approved Tuesday new critical infrastructure rules to guide the winterization of the gas supply. This comes in response to freeze-offs at gas wells and other parts of the gas supply chain that were key factors in the February black-outs.
Austin Energy announced yesterday that, after a failure to reach an agreement with LCRA, it was shelving plans to close its portion of the Fayette coal power plant it co-owns with the river authority. Environment Texas Executive Director released the following statement:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a private company’s plan Monday to store nuclear waste in the Permian Basin of West Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas -- For the sixth time in the past three months, a tropical storm or a hurricane is aiming for the now-waterlogged United States’ Gulf Coast. Tropical Storm Nicholas, which is poised to make landfall sometime Monday, would be the first to directly strike Texas in 2021. While Nicholas is unlikely to achieve hurricane status, the National Hurricane Center is warning those in its path of the potential for “life-threatening inundation” by storm surge, with as much as 20 inches of rainfall in some areas causing both that surge and flash flooding. As we saw when Hurricane Ida reached land two weeks ago, these powerful storms can lead to both power outages and industrial accidents. Like Tropical Storm Mindy last week, Nicholas developed close to the Gulf shore, leaving little time for the operators of oil, gas and other dangerous facilities to prepare for the worst. In response, Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger released the following statement:
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency reinstated its website centered on climate science and policy on Thursday. This information was removed from the EPA website by the previous administration. This relaunch is a strong signal that the Biden administration will restore the role of science in protecting our communities and public health.
WASHINGTON -- The United States officially rejoined the international Paris Agreement on Friday. The act brings America back into a key accord aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions. Environment America had called on Biden to prioritize rejoining the Paris Agreement on his first day in office in the "First Things to Fix" report. The report presented 20 actions for the Biden administration to undertake in early days of office to undo the Trump administration’s rollbacks of environmental laws and protections.
