On March 22, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit continued its stay of EPA’s Regional Haze Rule. Texas et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
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Tricia Rosendahl
Case Analysis: Sierra Club v. Chesapeake Operating LLC
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Texas Supreme Court strikes down Houston air quality ordinances
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court struck down Houston’s air quality ordinances, ruling the city had overstepped its authority to police local polluters. In an 8-1 decision, the justices ruled…
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Bipartisan Coalition Asks Supreme Court to Halt EPA Power Plan
A bipartisan coalition of 29 states and state agencies filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to immediately halt the Obama Administration’s power plan while litigation continues in …
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Oklahoma Joins Texas in Preventing Local Fracking Bans
On May 29, 2015, Gov. May Fallin of Oklahoma signed a bill that specifically prohibits cities or towns from banning oil and gas operations such as drilling, fracking, water disposal,…
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Urban Drilling in Texas: New Law and New Rules
On May 19, 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a compromise bill addressing how state and local governments will share regulatory powers over urban drilling in Texas. The new…
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Denton, Texas Bans Fracking – What’s Next?
Bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have arisen in a variety of places over recent months. Voters in Mendocino County and San Benito County, California, and Athens, Ohio, separately approved bans on fracking in the November elections. The New York State Governor and his Commissioners of Health and Environmental Conservation decided to ban fracking in New York on Dec. 19, 2014, as Steve Russo has discussed on this blog. However, a small Texas city northwest of Dallas, with a long history of oil and gas production, has drawn national attention after its citizens overwhelmingly voted to ban fracking.
On Nov. 4, 2014, voters of the City of Denton, Texas, approved an ordinance that banned fracking within the corporate city limits. While other cities in Texas have passed ordinances restricting fracking, Denton is the first city to outright ban the practice. Denton’s ordinance would make it a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $2000/day, to engage in fracking within city limits.
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TCEQ Becomes Sole Permitting Authority for Greenhouse Gases in Texas
On November 10, 2014, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published two actions in the Federal Register that gave the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) sole authority over greenhouse-gas …
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