EPA Promises to Monitor Methane After Bombshell Fracking Report

Nearly 200 countries signed a historic agreement to combat climate change last Saturday during the global climate summit in Paris. To achieve that goal would mean a massive slow-down of carbon emissions, climate scientists warn, an effective “de-carbonization” of the world economy. But it’s not just carbon consumption that scientists…

Are Toxic Chips Resurfacing in West Dallas Yards?

The black specks that appear to grow out of Elida Lopez’s driveway have the distinct look of the industrial waste. And, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, they probably are. These squared off chunks of rubber, called battery casings or battery chips, are byproducts of car-battery recycling. In other cities, the…

You Think Flooding Was Bad Last Weekend? Better Grab a Bible.

Ten weeks ago I had my hair shirt on with my sandwich board sign hanging from my shoulders predicting possible Biblical-scale flooding catastrophe as we entered the season of the fall rains. Might be time to grab those Bibles soon. All those stories you saw on TV last weekend of people…

Dallas Honored for Housing Poor People on Former Superfund Site

Dallas, a city that has repeatedly gotten in trouble for concentrating its affordable housing in poor, blighted areas, safely away from white people, is now being praised for housing poor people on a site that used to be contaminated with lead. So, hey, we’re finally doing something right.  The Environmental…

EPA Says Gas Plants Must Reveal Their Toxic Chemical Releases

Former EPA regulatory director Eric Schaeffer remembers sitting in on an industry meeting in which an executive reacted to finding his business was on the list of the country’s top benzene polluters. The company boss told other executives he didn’t want to be on the same list next year. When you…

Texas Agency Charged With Protecting Environment Continues Bold War on Air

Some of our state agencies have confusing names. The Texas Railroad Commission, for instance, is the name of the entity that regulates fracking. And the agency called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has actually kept a fairly consistent stance against environmental quality. Don’t feel bad if you’re confused. The…

Texas Keeps Its God-Given Right to Dump Crap in Water (For Now)

The state of Texas has won a small victory in its fight to continue dump stuff in water in defiance of new Environmental Protection Agency regulations meant to protect the integrity of the nation’s water supply. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined with other states’ attorneys general to stop the…

The American Lawn Needs to Die

My first inkling that America’s lawn obsession might not be terribly healthy came around 1995. We’d just moved into a new house in Far North Dallas, and 10- or 11-year-old me decided that the next-door neighbor’s lawn — green and smooth as flawless as a golf-course fairway with manicured grass…

Long Live Expensive Water

The late-summer Sturm und Drang over high water rates made it to the Dallas City Council this week, where Dallas Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett explained that, calm down, you’re water meter’s fine, you probably don’t have a leak, you just probably forgot during the weird monsoons of spring and early…

Texas Frackers Freak Over Proposal to Cut Gas Pollution

In Dallas and other cities across the country, local transit agencies are proud to announce that their buses run on natural gas. Natural gas puts less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than diesel, so the switch to natural gas is supposed to be a positive step to slow global warming…