Texas House moves to crack down on polluters with stricter penalties and heavier oversight
The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to focus enforcement and increase penalties on repeat violators and increase public outreach. Still, environmental advocates say the effort was too “modest” in its reach.
Environmental advocates push feds to investigate Texas’ enforcement of water quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to investigate allegations that the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s system of issuing permits has made it too easy for industries to contaminate rivers, lakes and estuaries.
State agency that oversees Texas power grid needs more money to do its job, Sunset Commission finds
The Public Utility Commission has about 200 employees but needs more to handle shoring up the state power grid and tackling an expanded list of regulatory duties, according to the state Sunset Advisory Commission.
Texas’ environmental regulators need to get tougher on polluters, group of lawmakers says
The group that reviews the effectiveness of state agencies recommended several changes to how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality operates.
Texans tell environmental agency: Stop being reluctant to regulate industry
A report from the state Sunset Advisory Commission found that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners have become “reluctant” regulators and often encourage industry to “self police.”
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Analysis: The opening line in every Texas political debate
Voters in Houston, wearing masks and spread 6 feet apart, line up to vote in the delayed primary runoff election. Michael Stravato for The Texas TribuneEditor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. Public hearings are part of the proceedings. The 5.5 million public school students in Texas arent looking at a couple of hearings between now and the end of the year. Those legislators who couldnt decide how to hold a public hearing might learn in November what their voters think.
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Analysis: The Texas Legislature can meet for up to 140 days. The pandemic raises a question: Should it?
Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneEditor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. Conversations about how to legislate during a pandemic have animated lawmakers since the new coronavirus reared its head in Texas earlier this year. Under non-pandemic conditions, he and other state leaders would at least be pretending new political maps could be turned out during the regular session. In a normal 140-day regular session, the Legislature considers thousands of bills and passes fewer than one in four of them. As soon as the census is complete and delivered to lawmakers, they have to draw new political maps for the Texas congressional delegation, the Texas Legislature and the State Board of Education.
Railroad commissioner to chair: "This isn't a dictatorship" (video)
In a livestreamed Tuesday meeting, Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton and the board's chair, Christi Craddick, sparred over questions about the fate of the agency's executive director.