News

In brief, parks do well, TERP and extra inspectors for oil and gas still short-changed, and other bills face uncertain future.

On the House floor today, legislation to evaluate a so-called state water grid was resuscitated as an amendment to an unrelated water bill, SB 1301. In response to this development, Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair of Sierra Club’s Lone Star...

In a national report released this week, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranked the top 51 cities in the United States for policies and programs designed to save energy – including in some cases water and gas. Five Texas...

Two bills to add energy efficiency programs at the State Energy Conservation Office, or SECO (under the Comptroller of Public Accounts), were discussed on the House Floor on the last days to get a House bill approved and sent to the Senate. Despite...

[Original post: Evelyn Merz, Houston Chronicle, May 18, 2015] The Texas Legislature, while opening a door to adequately fund the Texas state park system via appropriation of the sporting-goods sales tax, is quietly closing a window so that less...

If you were to read the pretty, glossy one-pagers from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, or listen to the testimony by the Public Utility Commission, or lobbyists representing American Electric Power, or those entities suing the EPA over its...

To those of you who took action on our alert opposing legislation to create an ill-advised state water grid for Texas, thank you!. Unfortunately – despite our best efforts – House Bill 3298 passed the Texas House and is now in the Texas Senate....

In what has turned out to be an unequivocal disaster of a legislative session for the environment and individual rights, good legislation may yet pass into law. By an overwhelming majority, the Texas House of Representatives approved HB 14 by Rep....

Sierra Club warned today that a California-style approach to water management could have disastrous consequences for Texas. A bill designed to “study” a so-called “water grid”, House Bill 3298, could be up for a vote soon in the Senate after it...

The end of the semester is upon us, which means another great internship at the Lone Star Chapter draws to a close. This week, we say goodbye to Nikki Whitehead, our stellar Media & Communications Intern in our Austin office. Nikki will continue...