Texas Environmental News - July 21, 2018

The not so strong arm of the Trump Administration's Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Houston-based Energy XXI CEO John Schiller with failing to disclose more than $10 million in personal loans and perks from corporate vendors and board members according to the Houston Chronicle. The company is engaged in off-shore oil&gas drilling. SEC enforcement officer Anita Band said, "Secret backroom deals for the benefit of corporate insiders violate those duties and deprive investors of important information." Schiller will have to pay $180,000 fine and go to church for three Sundays in a row.

According to a report from Climate Central the number of summer days above normal temperatures has been trending upwards. 92% of the 244 cities in the analysis are above the norm of the past fifty year average. The biggest temperature increases are happening in Louisiana, Florida and Texas. Heat stroke, respiratory illness and electrical bills are also up. The US Energy Information Act in 2015 states that American Households are spending more on air conditioning than any other part of their electric bills.

New EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, who replaced Scott Pruitt, seems to be following in his predecessors footsteps. The former lobbyist for major fossil fuel producers including Dallas-based Exxon-Mobile has indicated he will continue the path of the Trump Administration's deconstruction of environmental protections. So far 46 bills have been introduced that will allow fossil fuel producers to pollute more. These bills include modification of the Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

According to records obtained from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Energy Transfer of Dallas will build a compressor station for the 42inch Trans Pecos Pipeline at the Rio Grande. The crossing located about 10 miles west of Presidio will likely include multi-engine jet turbines to push methane gas into Mexico. A valve station is already located at the site. In February over 3000 tons of methane gas along with volatile organic compounds including ethane, pentane and isobutane were vented at the site into the atmosphere. A neighbor two miles away said it was like being at an airport runway listening to Jets take off for five straight days. According to the TECQ this was a legal emission event.

The American Petroleum Institute, not satisfied with a string of victories obtained for the industry by the Trump Administration, now suggests the tariffs on imported steel is “misguided.” 75% of American pipeline content are built with foreign steel, despite a campaign promise by Trump that pipes would be built exclusively in America. Over twenty thousand tariff waivers have been sought by American corporations and only 241 have been processed according to the Washington Examiner. Shell and Chevron received waivers for imported pipeline steel last Thursday.

The fracking industry methane leakage rate is 2.3% according to a five-year study released last month by the Environmental Defense Fund. The amount is nearly double the government's estimate. Food & Water Watch ED Wenonah Hauter said the figure is “conservative.” She issued a statement this week suggesting any purported climate benefit of switching American energy sources from coal to gas is nullified because of the high rate of leakage. Methane is 80% more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. She wrote, “EDF's report underestimates the full volume of methane leakage throughout the entire fracking process.” She went on to say no amount of methane leakage is good for the planet and the other inherent hazards of gas fracking including water contamination, air pollution and serious human health effects far outweigh the investment in fossil fuels. She stated that every dollar that goes into fracking means fewer dollars invested in wind, solar and other clean energy systems.

A non-profit group is warning oil field workers to protect themselves against fugitive emissions. Sharon Wilson of Dallas is employed with Earthworks and has been documenting leaking oil tank batteries, tank trucks, pipelines, valves, manifold connections in the Permian Basin for over 20 years. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recorded 10 oil field worker deaths in 2015 where vapors were suspected as the cause. Wilson said, “"The industry is not at all serious about containing dangerous emissions. They don't care about workers." Wilson uses a infrared camera to detect fumes. Hydrogen Sulfide is often an instant killer in high concentrations. Volatile organic compounds including benzene and toluene are carcinogenic. Methane is highly flammable and will explode. It is also an asphyxiant. Canaries die in coal mines when oxygen decreases to 16%.

An outspoken opponent of Dallas-based Energy Transfer's Bayou Bridge pipeline project was beaten recently near the resistance camp called L'eau est la vie in the Atchafalaya Swamp of Louisiana. Tricked into thinking she was helping a neighbor in distress, she was pushed down and whipped with leather belts. The assailants are still at large. The camp is allegedly promoting lock downs and tree sitting blocking pipeline workers in the swamp. Energy Transfer expects the pipeline to be in operation by 2020 to carry Canadian tar sands oil to the Mississippi River for refining. The Atchafalaya is larger than the Florida Everglades, yields 22 million pounds of crawfish annually and has over 100 species of fish.

The Johnnie Stubbs request for a 230acre feet per year water permit on behalf of his renters CBD Materials was tabled Thursday by the Brewster County GW Conservation District. A number of questions both from the board and the public were directed at CBD’s Darrell Bromen and his take on the Igneous Aquifer. Despite a smooth presentation by Bromen some of the questions were not answered. Perhaps the biggest was just how much water is in the Aquifer – a question that haunts districts throughout the state due to the elaborate and expensive nature of aquifer evaluations. CBD hopes to use most of the water to rinse the quarried mineral known as trachyte, on Stubb’s 8000 acre ranch. The stone is used for construction aggregate including roads, bridges and concrete pads. Apparently to disassociate his business from oil&gas, Bromen said, “We are not frackers.” Stating that the average frack uses 46acre feet of water per frack.

Billionaire Jeff Bezo’s spaceship program launched and landed successfully Mission 9 at Corn Ranch just north of Van Horn last Wednesday according to a Blue Origin press release. The cargo included a number of sub-orbital space experiments that were released at 62 miles above sea level. Preparing for manned flights later this year, the crew capsule was pushed to severe limits without failure. Tickets for suborbital space travel are available at the Blue Origin website.