Texas Clean Air Matters

Amid COVID-19, the Trump administration sets dangerous air pollution standards. What is at stake for Houstonians?

By / Published: May 11, 2020

Ananya Roy, Senior Health Scientist; Rachel Fullmer, Senior Attorney; Jeremy Proville, Director; Grace Tee Lewis, Health Scientist

Fine particle pollution affects the health of nearly all Houstonians.

The Trump administration’s disregard for science has been clear in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s not the only health threat they’re making worse by ignoring overwhelming scientific evidence. For three years the administration has systematically sought to weaken clean air safeguards, endangering all Americans.

We know air pollution causes heart disease, diabetes and lung disease — and that the people suffering from these conditions are at greater risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Independent of the ongoing pandemic, air pollution is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths across America year after year. This underscores the vital importance of pollution protections to protect human health both during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

Unfortunately, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has proposed to retain an outdated and inadequate standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution despite strong scientific evidence that it must be strengthened to adequately protect human health. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Environmental Protection Agency, Houston, Particulate Matter / Tagged , , | Comments are closed

Public health crisis underscores need to protect vulnerable Texans. Here’s how the PUC is responding.

By / Bio / Published: March 26, 2020

As Texans contend with the threat of the COVID-19 virus and an economic downturn, the state’s Public Utility Commission has adopted a proposal to prevent customers from having their power shut off in the midst of the current crisis.

Chairman DeAnn Walker initially put forward a set of policies on Tuesday to protect the state’s most vulnerable while keeping our competitive electricity market healthy and resilient. Today, the PUC advanced those policies with some changes.

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Posted in Utilities / Comments are closed

Report shows Texas leadership on solar and wind is helping safeguard our power grid

By / Bio / Published: March 12, 2020

Last summer, Texas’ electric grid was put to the test by scorching temperatures that sent power demand soaring and raised the specter of potential brownouts. Thankfully, the grid did what it was designed to do and pulled through without any major issues.

This week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas released its projection for how we’ll fare this summer. Thanks to massive growth of solar and wind resources made possible by Texas’ competitive electricity market, the outlook is much improved.

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Posted in Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, ERCOT, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind / Tagged , , , , , | Comments are closed

Water scarcity is a challenge for Texas, rushing ahead of the science could scuttle solutions

By / Bio / Published: January 23, 2020

Water scarcity is a challenge facing many Texas communities, and it’s encouraging to see how many state leaders are proactively exploring solutions to our growing water needs. This has brought the oil and gas industry and the massive volumes of water it uses and produces each year into the conversation.

One positive opportunity area exists within the state’s oil and gas sector, which uses large amounts of water to hydraulically fracture, or frack, wells. Operators have begun to reduce their reliance on fresh water by “recycling” wastewater within the oilfield to meet their operational needs – an effort that should be expanded as much as possible to take pressure off fresh resources.

However, serious problems arise when we start to look outside the oilfield and consider oil and gas produced water as a potential “future water supply” beyond industry operations – a topic the Texas legislature is currently considering.

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Posted in Drought, Energy-Water Nexus, Natural gas, Oil / Tagged , , , | Comments are closed

As Houston unveils EV roadmap, Texas cities and fleet owners should take a closer look at electric buses

By / Bio / Published: November 5, 2019

Last month, the city of Houston announced the formation of EVolve Houston, a partnership focused on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, slashing transportation-related emissions and delivering cleaner air for the region. Considering Houston has some of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the country and nearly half of these emissions come from transportation, this strategy is a critical component for meeting ambitious climate goals and improving quality of life.

As the Energy Capital of the World goes electric with the goal of 30% of new car sales being EVs by 2030, cities, transit agencies and fleet owners across the state should also consider how investing in electric buses presents an opportunity to cut pollution, deliver on climate goals and generate economic benefits.

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Posted in Air Pollution, Climate Change, Electric Vehicles, Houston / Tagged , | Comments are closed

New Permian data show how worst offenders prevent progress on flaring

By / Bio / Published: August 14, 2019

Texas’ Permian Basin isn’t just the site of the world’s biggest oil boom. It’s also the source of one of the country’s most unnecessary wastes of energy and associated air pollution. The burning off (flaring) and intentional release (venting) of natural gas has proven to be a black eye Permian producers can’t shake. A previous EDF analysis of 2014-2015 data found that operators in the Permian Basin flared and wasted more than 45 Bcf of natural gas in 2015 alone, enough to serve all 400,000 households in Texas Permian counties for two and a half years.

Production since then has boomed, and the Permian’s flaring problem has too. The burning off of associated gas is predicted to only get worse through 2019, and analysts predict the entire Permian Basin could flare as much as 1 Bcf a day in the coming year. That’s nearly four times the amount of gas produced by the Gulf of Mexico’s most productive gas facility.

EDF has recently analyzed the 2018 flaring data released by the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, and beyond illustrating the scale of the problem – operators burned enough gas to serve all the heating and cooking needs of the state’s seven largest cities – the numbers tell us two main things:

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Posted in Air Pollution, Natural gas, Oil / Comments are closed