Jim Schermbeck

Re: Sam Coats' Concrete Problem

Sam Coats' Concrete Problem

Time for "The Times" To Weigh in on DeLay Doc

Damned Hollywood Liberals

The Truthiness Is, He's Scary

The Hammer and the Nailing

DFW Coughs Up Its Last Environmental Beat Journalist

Wonders a Downwinder: A Bad Wind A-Blowin' In From Midlothian?

Kick in the Ash: Cement-Maker Takes Dallas, Tarrant Counties to Court

The day before Thanksgiving, Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement Company filed a suit against, among others, the City of Dallas, claiming that the city's desire to go green will take the green right out of Ash Grove's wallet. The lawsuit, which also names Plano and Fort Worth and Arlington and Tarrant Cou ... More >>

Clearing the Air Over EPA's News Concerning DFW's Clean Air Plan

So, the Environmental Protection Agency has approved the Dallas/Fort Worth region's plan to reduce air pollution from ozone, making us the first in the nation to win the EPA's nod for a "state implementation plan." That's nice an all, but don't jump up and shout, "Woo-hoo, We're No. 1!" just yet.Oh, ... More >>

Companies that whore

Channel 8 sells its name to advertisers, including one of the state's biggest polluters

Ill Wind Blowing

Texas Industries wants permission to burn 270,000 tons of hazardous waste each year at a concrete plant 30 miles from Dallas. That would make it the nation's largest incinerator of toxic waste. Despite stunning ignorance about what this will do to your he

Something In The Air

Downwind of TXI's Midlothian cement plant, people and animals keep getting sick. Instead of investigating whether the plant is to blame, state regulators appear ready to let TXI burn even more hazardous waste. Part two of A Dallas Observer Special Report

Letters

Downwind of TXI's Midlothian cement plant, people and animals keep getting sick. Instead of investigating whether the plant is to blame, state regulators appear ready to let TXI burn even more hazardous waste. Part two of A Dallas Observer Special Report

Bottom of the ninth

Permit hearings begin in TXI's quest to become the nation's largest toxic waste incinerator

Green Cement Plants Could Mean Cleaner Air and Lower Costs

Economic pressure from local cities helps clean up smoky kilns

Clearing the Air

Former County Judge Margaret Keliher keeps trying to blow away the smoke over pollution plans

Choke On It

North Texas gets schooled on the nasty politics of dirty air

A Fallen Star Is Born

Tom DeLay's scandals are a gold mine for two Texas filmmakers

No DeLay

Bad politics is good business for filmmakers

Trip to Bountiful

Oh, the talent given us at this year's remarkable Dallas Video Festival

Made on the Margins

For 15 years, the Dallas Video Fest has flickered on the fringe

Don't Want TXI to Burn Tires in Midlothian? Too Bad. TCEQ Doesn't Wanna Hear About It.

In April, public ire rose when Texas Industries scored a 10-year air permit renewal -- no public comment period required -- for its notoriously toxic Midlothian cement operation. The renewal came with one condition: TXI's cement kilns, the only ones in North Texas authorized to burn hazardous waste, ... More >>

Just Why Is the EPA Considering Waste Management's Lobbyist For Dallas Director?

Alexa SchirtzingerThis morning, in the reflection of Dallas's Fountain Place building, a small group of environmental activists gathered as previously announced to oppose the nomination of former Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission head John Hall as the new regional director of the Enviro ... More >>

Clean-Air Fund to Stop Funding Natural Gas Projects Till Industry Cleans Up Its Act

Click to expand this map provided last week by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality​Way back in '97, and again last June, we told you the story of Sue Pope -- a Midlothian rancher who became legendary for taking on pollution-spewing TXI -- and the genesis of the fund named in her honor, w ... More >>

Downwinders at Risk Launches First-Ever TV Campaign Against TXI, TCEQ and Rick Perry

Two months ago, TXI made a big deal out of shutting down four wet-process cement kilns in Midlothian -- a move hailed by Jim Schermbeck, head of Dallas-based Downwinders at Risk, as "the culmination of a 21-year fight that began in 1989 by a group of residents who found that burning hazardous waste ... More >>

At Friday's Screening of Gasland, Rallying the Troops to Keep Gas Drilling Out of Dallas

Photos by Patrick MichelsAfter the movie, director Josh Fox, center, stuck around for a Q&A joined by the Sierra Club's Peter Wilson, Dallas drilling activist Raymond Crawford, DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and drilling activist Sharon Wilson.​Gas drilling opponents from around North Texas rallied ... More >>

As Ash Grove, Dallas Settle Cement Suit, Clean-Air Group Shouts, "Sweetheart Deal!"

​It's been close to two years since we last looked at Ash Grove's federal lawsuit, filed in the fall of '08, in which the cement-maker whined that Dallas's refusal to buy its dirty, wet-kiln-made concrete was a violation of the state's competitive bidding laws. Dallas, claiming its thanks-but-no-t ... More >>

Toxic Avenger: In the War Between the Feds and Texas, EPA Chief Al Armendariz has Science on His Side. Is That Enough?

​It's been close to two years since we last looked at Ash Grove's federal lawsuit, filed in the fall of '08, in which the cement-maker whined that Dallas's refusal to buy its dirty, wet-kiln-made concrete was a violation of the state's competitive bidding laws. Dallas, claiming its thanks-but-no-t ... More >>

Maybe City Council Should Have Asked Some Questions Before Taking Drillers' Money.

​It's been close to two years since we last looked at Ash Grove's federal lawsuit, filed in the fall of '08, in which the cement-maker whined that Dallas's refusal to buy its dirty, wet-kiln-made concrete was a violation of the state's competitive bidding laws. Dallas, claiming its thanks-but-no-t ... More >>

As Council Tackles Fracking, Groups Marshal Forces Against City's Natural Gas Policies

Photo by Patrick Michels​As Patrick mentioned yesterday, the city council will at long last debate that gas-drilling task force Angela Hunt pitched only after Dave Neumann promised but failed to deliver his own proposal. In advance of The Big Day, several groups -- Downwinders at Risk, Dallas Area ... More >>

Environmentalists, NAACP Unite To Ask Council For Strong Gas Drilling Task Force

Photos by Patrick MichelsRaymond Crawford unfurls a 21-foot scroll of signatures from folks concerned with gas drilling in Dallas during this morning's press conference..​It's The Big Day today for gas drilling activists here at City Hall, and as Robert mentioned yesterday, the environmentalist se ... More >>

Raymond Crawford, Actual Citizen, Fought the City on Fracking -- and Won

When Dallas' drilling rules get tougher, you'll have a professional needlepointer to thank.

New Study From Gas Drilling Activists Gathers Decade of Industrial Woes in the Barnett Shale

​Natural gas activist and blogger Sharon Wilson was among the environmentalists out at Earth Day last weekend -- not far from the EPA's six-foot cardboard Al Armendariz -- and she was passing out copies of a new report she'd helped produce on gas drilling in the Barnett Shale. Produced by the Fort ... More >>

Activists Hail Dallas County Commissioners Court For Demanding State, Feds Clear the Air

​Anti-gas drilling activist Raymond Crawford sends word this morning: Moments ago the Dallas County Commissioners Court voted to adopt a resolution demanding the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency do something about cleaning up Dallas's air. Long ... More >>

Fracking Chemical Disclosure Bill Blasts Through Texas House, Enviros Unimpressed

From the rapidly spreading "Fracking Song" from ProPublica and Studio 20 NYU.​In these final days of the 82nd Texas Legislature, lawmakers in Austin are throwing support behind Eastlake Rep. Jim Keffer's bill that'd require drillers to report the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing at each of t ... More >>

Gas Drilling Activists Not Happy With Council Component of Task Force Caraway's Assembled

Photo by Patrick MichelsRay Crawford and his petition signed by those opposed to gas drilling in the Dallas city limuts​As we noted a couple of weeks back, Dallas City Hall's taking applications for the gas-drilling task force Angela Hunt demanded after Dave Neumann failed to make good on his prom ... More >>

In Legislature's Final Days, Lawmakers Extend Court Protections for Polluters

Rep. Dennis Bonnen​Amid these "late nights and high feelings" of the tail end of the 82nd Texas Legislature, House lawmakers took a little time to pay the bills yesterday, tying up one last niggling loophole that was letting property owners sue polluters that were contaminating their land. As it ... More >>

This Morning, Council Members Took First Look at Gas Drilling Task Force Hopefuls

Linda Koop​Last Friday, Robert offered a first look at some of the big names that had applied to sit on the city's gas drilling task force: Margaret Keliher, Royce West II, Betty Culbreath, the train-bedeviled Chico Grimes and more. This morning, Linda Koop and the handful of other members on the ... More >>

A Few Council Members Take in Gasland, But Not Before Mayor Mike Makes a Promise to City

Photos by Leslie MinoraAngela Hunt was asked whether it's likely Dallas will be sued by gas drillers awaiting their SUPs.​Mayor Mike Rawlings took the mic before last night's Observer co-sponsored Gasland screening and told the audience of council members, activists and concerned locals, "I wi ... More >>

At Arlington City Hall, Locals Hammer TCEQ Panel for Stricter Gas Drilling Regulations

Photos by Leslie MinoraA panel of TCEQ reps maintained their poker faces for about two hours as citizens took the mic, almost all demanding tighter fracking regulations.​Shortly after the release of that Fort Worth air study, three reps from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality took a ... More >>

Dallas-Fort Worth's Air Now Dirtier Than Houston's? Yep, Air Quality Watchdogs Say.

​In Texas, Houston and filthy air have always been synonymous. But the Armpit of Texas has just been dethroned. For concentrated, ozone-laced air pollution, Dallas-Fort Worth has outstripped the country's petrochemical hub as the EPA's worst offender. According to watchdog group Downwinders a ... More >>

Dallas-Fort Worth's Air Could Be Cleanest Ever By Next Summer. He Said Sarcastically.

Sierra Club​It was early November when watchdog group Downwinders At Risk found out that Dallas-Fort Worth had set off air-quality monitors more times than Houston in 2011. Yep, America's petrochemical hub violated EPA standards less often than we did. Depressing, right? As you may recall, th ... More >>