WASHINGTON -- As part of an executive order, President Joe Biden is expected to announce Wednesday a stop on all new drilling in public lands and waters. The president will also set a goal of protecting 30 percent of U.S. lands and oceans by the year 2030.
"It’s horrifying that the monarch’s population has fallen so low; it’s great to hear that the Fish and Wildlife Service, after conducting an ‘intensive, thorough review,’ agrees that the monarch deserves new protections. And it’s absurd that the agency is punting on any sort of plan to protect this important species."
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to offer up all remaining areas in the Gulf of Mexico for auction to oil and gas companies tomorrow, offering leases for approximately 78 million acres in Federal waters -- more than five times the amount of oil and gas lease acreage that the agency currently manages.
"No one expects these disasters to happen in central Texas, but the reality is that plastics are everywhere. They’re in our pantries, our clothes, and even our drinking water -- and when a plant catches fire, they’re in our air, too. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to start asking bigger questions about why we allow the petrochemical industry to pollute our air in order to make plastic products that we often don’t need in the first place."
Ahead of Hurricane Laura, a number of facilities in Texas shut down, a process that requires releasing hazardous pollutants. The companies that run those plants, including Motiva Chemicals, told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that they planned to emit over 4 million pounds of pollution collectively. Early this morning, Motiva, restarting its facility in Port Arthur, Texas, said that it would release nearly 49,000 pounds of pollution.
AUSTIN -- A massive fire and explosion broke out this morning along refinery row in Corpus Christi, Texas. This fire follows fires at a Poly-America plastic manufacturing plant in Dallas and Pasadena Refining Systems near Houston earlier this week. Officials say a barge hit the pipeline, causing the explosion and fire.
AUSTIN -- The Poly-America plastics manufacturing plant in Grand Prairie, Texas caught fire early this morning, and officials say the fire could burn until late in the day tomorrow. The facility manufactures plastic products, like garbage bags and plastic sheeting, that are made from polyethylene and other raw plastic materials.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released two proposals today to roll back clean water protections against waste from coal-fired power plants. The first proposal would overhaul wastewater rules, drastically weakening safeguards that prevent utilities from discharging toxic pollutants like arsenic, lead and mercury into America’s waterways. The second proposal would significantly extend closure dates for coal ash disposal sites, allowing utilities to continue storing toxic coal debris in ponds that can leak or overflow, for decades.
AUSTIN-Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger issued the following announcement upon news that solar company SunPower will establish a new U.S. operations center in Austin, creating at least 450 jobs.
