In the wake of State House Bill 40, Texas cities in the Barnett Shale region, including Denton and Fort Worth, find themselves stripped of rights to develop health and safety ordinances for subsurface oil and gas operations and subjected to a vague standard for regulations governing surface operations.
The bill was enacted in reaction to Denton’s fracking ban and other cities’ strict drilling ordinances.
Nipendra Patel in front of his home in the Bastrop community of The Colony. Patel's roof is marked with studs meant to support solar panels, but the neighborhood's developer blocked their installation. Photo by Gabriel Cristóver Pérez
The Fischer Store Bridge near Wimberley was toppled by the Blanco River floodwaters. A new report shows that the economic damage of climate change in Texas could be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Above, Members of the DFW Citizens' Climate Lobby coaltion Shawn Reeder, left, and Swetha Kannen and Jim Moffitt (behind to his right), head to meetings with members of Congress and their aides in Washington, DC, at last year's lobbying day. Photos courtesy of CCL.
On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council voted to repeal the city's bag fee ordinance after plastic bag manufacturers sued.
UPDATE June 14, 2015: Story has been updated below with election results.
June 5, 2015
On Wednesday, the local fight against plastic bags took a blow when the Dallas City Council voted 10-4 to repeal the Dallas bag fee that went into effect in January.
Above, Wini Cannon, District 3 anti-tollroad candidate eliminated in City Council general election, Mark Clayton, District 9 councilman-elect, Carol Donovan, candidate for Dallas County Democratic Party Chair, Lon Burnam, former Texas House Representative (D), Tarrant County District 90, Lenna Webb, Chair North Dallas Democratic Women, David Griggs, Dallas County Democratic Party Executive Committee. Photo by Linda Cooke.
The Dallas Green Alliance, a grassroots political action committee formed to elect green City Council candidates, hosted a fundraiser on May 28 at the Stoneleigh P in Dallas.