Sierra Club

If the Addicks and Barker Dams Fail

They've already been labeled "high risk." Experts say the resulting damage could be bigger than Katrina in New Orleans.

Cover Story: We're All Screwed In a Hurricane Katrina-Like Way If Addicks and Barker Dams Are Breached

Last week's rains and floods might be child's play compared to what could be in store for Houston if Addicks and Barker dams were to crumble into dust. Located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8, the two flood-control mechanisms have been at an "extremely high risk of catastrophi ... More >>

Breathe (Slightly) Deeper, Houston: Our Air Quality Improves a Little

You may not have noticed, but Houston's air quality has gotten (slightly) better, according to the annual report by the American Lung Association. Don't get too happy, though: We're still the eighth-worst city for ozone pollution in the U.S. But when it comes to short-term particle pollution, we ar ... More >>

The Keystone XL Pipeline: Houston's Cardno Entrix In The Crosshairs

Keystone XL: Coming to Texas​Houston-based Cardno Entrix is the latest target of scrutiny in the newest allegations of cronyism surrounding TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline project. A group of U.S. senators has called for an investigation into the State Department's handling of the Keystone ... More >>

ExxonMobil's Baytown Refinery Sued For Being So Damn Leaky

Headed to court​Following in the footsteps of Shell and and ChevronPhillips, ExxonMobil has been sued by environmental groups who say its refinery routinely violates clean-air regulations and doesn't really do anything about it. The Sierra Club and Environment Texas announced their lawsuit to ... More >>

Chevron Phillips Settles Suit Over Pollution At Baytown Plant, No Thanks To TCEQ

Chevron-Phillips: The TCEQ wouldn't step in, so local groups did​After years of illegally emitting carcinogens and other toxic pollutants into the air, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company has agreed to a settle a lawsuit against it and clean up its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown."We can all breathe ea ... More >>

White Stallion Coal Plant Opposition Plays The Death-Count Card

White Stallion: The vote is coming soon​Several clean-air advocacy groups joined forces Tuesday in their continuing push to keep the proposed White Stallion coal plant from getting a permit. And this time, they brought out the big guns: fear and death.According to a new report released Tuesday in ... More >>

Texas' Environmental Agency & The Feds: This Week May Be Crucial

This week's decision will be watched closely​All eyes are on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality this week as its three commissioners will decide whether to grant an air permit to a proposed $3 billion petroleum coke-fired power plant in Corpus Christi.The Las Brisas Energy Center has be ... More >>

Rick Perry To EPA: Stop. Sierra Club To EPA: Hurry The Eff Up

The Environmental Protection Agency is getting hit from both ends for its actions in Texas.The EPA has threatened to take over the permitting process from the Texas Commissin on Environmental Quality if the TCEQ doesn't get tougher on polluters.Governor Rick Perry was in Deer Park yesterday, once a ... More >>

Feds To Texas' Environmental Regulators: Good God, You Suck (UPDATED With Rick Perry Saying No, You Suck)

Feds come to the same conclusion we did​The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency smacked the hell out of Texas environmental regulators earlier this week, announcing that the feds will begin taking control over the issuance of operating permits to chemical plants and refineries because the s ... More >>

Sierra Club Takes Its Oil-Spill Act To The Offshore Technology Conference

Photograph courtesy US NavyA hunka, hunka burnin' Gulf​Dressed in a black business suit with a fake BP badge on the lapel, Sierra Club spokeswoman Donna Hoffman pretended to be a BP company exec giving a press conference after an oil spill."I want to reassure everyone that the oil spill, outside o ... More >>

The EPA Might Actually Listen To People At Today's Hearing On Ozone Levels

​The Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of deciding exactly how low it is going to decrease the national smog pollution limit, otherwise known as ozone, and clean-air advocates want you to do your part to help ensure a cleaner, healthier Houston.All day today, the EPA is hosting a pub ... More >>

The EPA: "Castrating," Maybe, But Also Getting Tougher

​The EPA may giveth, but it can also taketh away -- the agency is toughening guidelines in the fight against smog pollution, lowering the national ozone limit for the eight-hour standard.A federal Environmental Protection Agency spokesman says the agency will announce today that it is lowering the ... More >>

A Quiet Hell

Thanks to lax enforcement by TCEQ, plants along the Houston Ship Channel launch tons of toxic gases into our air, and face little penalty even when they exceed pollution limits over and over again.

Sierra Club Sues Over Grand Parkway

Logo courtesy Sierra ClubThe Grand Parkway, that expansive road to nowhere in the middle of nowhere, is headed to court.The Sierra Club has filed a federal suit against the project, saying that environmental-impact studies have been inadequate.Brandt Mannchen of the group appeared before Commissione ... More >>

Shell Oil Finally Gets Fined For What It Puts Into Deer Park's Air

It took awhile, but state environmental regulators and Shell Oil finally came to meeting of the minds about a slew of pollution violations committed at the Deer Park refinery. Upshot: Shell will pay a $345,744 penalty for 35 emissions events and record-keeping violations that occurred from 2004 ... More >>

The Devil Came on Horseback

War, slaughter, genocide — and you feel like seeing a movie?

Border Fence May Destroy Wildlife Habitat

U.S. Fish and Wildlife services spent $80 million to reclaim wildlife habitat in South Texas. Now Homeland Security is ready to wipe that out.

Shark Bites

JAWS Unleashed is as sloppy as it is gory

First Places

Houston Press staffers win awards

Letters

Letters

Carrying the Torch

Rangers get fired up over Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative

Love of the Game

A Valentine's weekend for college baseball fans

Under The Volcano

Crown Central Petroleum spews, sputters and flares up. Neighbors of the plant view it uneasily, never quite sure when it's going to blow.

Learning Curve

The Chronicle's still stumbling on Enron

Three-peat Heat

Start your engines: The latest pollution pennant race is on

The Sky's the Limit

Stop wheezing and cheer up. A front group finds a bright spin on our brown air.

In the (O)Zone

What's the fuss, TNRCC? We've got air to die for.

Letters 07-20-2000

Letters

From the February 24, 2000 issue

We're No. 1!

Houston seems destined to remain the country's biggest stink hole

Raw Deal

Oysterman Joe Nelson says pollution is slowly killing Galveston Bay. But is anyone listening?

Local Control

Will the state be able to continue to review environmentally sensitive projects, or will it cede power to the feds?

Killer Weed

The life-suffocating Salvinia molesta has entered Texas waterways. It's green, fast and deadly.

Letters

Letters

Wetlands Maul?

The Sierra Club got paid off, but a developer's bizarre problems continue

Rocky Landing

Residents of this seaside neighborhood are about to be joined by a 1,000-acre port facility

It's a bird, it's a plane ...

The Airport That Wouldn't Die

Last fall, environmentalists thought they'd finally put a stake through the heart of the West Side Airport. But the mayoral race seems to have given it a new lease on life.

Press Picks

Alison Cook looks back at 1996: Year of the Rat

Smoke and Mirrors (and more smoke)

It's called "Motorist's Choice." But the new emissions testing program for Houston may not offer much of a choice after all. And it won't do much for cleaning the city's air, either.

Clunkers R Us

Sell your jalopy, help an industry breathe easier

Press Wins Awards

A Katie for the Katy and kudos to Cook

The Battle for Lavaca Bay

Diane Wilson asked only that her home bay be allowed to live. She says she was told no. So she went to war.

Trashing Houston

To a world worried about waste, Houston may offer an answer -- or at least a place for the garbage to go

Just Don't Breathe It

What Houstonians can -- and probably won't -- do to clean up the air they drive through

Letters