DALLAS – Lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently filed a brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that because of the national implications of Texas and Oklahoma's regional haze plans, including coal-fired power plant emissions drifting into neighboring areas and states, any challenges to its rulemaking in the matter should be heard in the D.C. Circuit.
This column first appeared on Library of Law and Liberty Crumbling infrastructure in Detroit, MichiganCrumbling infrastructure in Detroit, Michigan Ever since people began migrating in large numbers from America’s rural areas to its urban areas in the 19th century, cities have presented unique challenges: sanitation, housing, transportation, education, public safety, and fire protection, to name just a few.
AUSTIN – Houston can punish air polluters as criminals in a manner consistent with state regulators who impose civil penalties, the city argued at the Supreme Court on Sept. 2. Houston seeks Court approval of an ordinance creating an agency to enforce air quality regulations of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Businesses with state emission permits have delayed enforcement since 2008. At oral argument, the theory of city counsel Robert Higgason that city and state enforcement wo
Gov. Greg Abbott has come to the aid of a collation of oil and chemical companies petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to kill a city of Houston ordinance purportedly in conflict with clean air regulations enacted by the state.
AUSTIN – Justices at the Supreme Court of Texas must decide whether Houston can enforce an ordinance creating its own air quality agency. The Justices plan to hear oral argument on Sept. 2, over a First District appellate court decision in the city’s favor. The city council passed an ordinance in 2007, requiring owners of facilities within the scope of state law to register with city health officers and pay fees. Sponsors promised to enforce the Texas Clean Air Act better than the state did.
A few days ago, a hunting guide in south Texas found a dead whooping crane near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The birds are endangered, so the death of the bird is being investigated by Texas Parks & Wildlife game wardens, according to a Jan. 6 press release from the agency.
After spending nearly a year reviewing evidence and testimony, a federal judge in Texas has ruled that ExxonMobil does not need to be penalized for emissions violations at its Baytown facility.
Abbott AUSTIN (Legal Newsline) - Two Texas state senators are asking Attorney General Greg Abbott for his opinion on a pollution control tax break for a San Antonio-based refinery.
AUSTIN (Legal Newsline) - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Thursday that BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay the State $50 million for illegal emissions following an explosion and fire at its Texas City refinery.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed the common carrier status of the Denbury Green Pipeline on Aug. 26. AUSTIN � Appellate judges in Beaumont invested too much power in state agency permits in two cases the Supreme Court of Texas decided on Aug. 26.
NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced Monday his office filed a challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to disapprove the state's Flexible Permits Program.
Abbott MAY, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced on Monday that he has filed an enforcement action against a water service company that allegedly failed to provide safe drinking water to Brownwood residents.
Doesn't it seem like folks are screaming, "Enough already" more and more lately, what with bureaucrats and regulators and micro-managing busybodies assailing us with their cautions and caveats, advisories and admonitions?
Overwhelmed by what he saw as the idiocy of a recent complaint to the Texas Commision on Environmental Quality, Limestone County Judge Daniel Burkeen felt compelled to author an appropriate response after being asked to investigate whether a hunting lodge owner was allowing patrons to defecate in the woods.
Public Citizen, the self-appointed environmental watchdog group, filed suit this month against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), seeking to force it to regulate carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gas emissions.
