CLEAN WATER ACT

States and Native American tribes will have greater authority to block energy projects such as natural gas pipelines that could pollute rivers and streams under a final rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration.

The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday.

The bill aims to create a water supply four times the size of Lake Livingston, one of the state’s largest reservoirs. But it may still be a “drop in the bucket” compared to the state’s needs.

A coalition of environmental groups claims the EPA has failed for decades to update limits on the discharge of some dangerous chemicals into waterways. Most of the worst polluters are in Texas.

Voters would have the final say on whether the state sets aside billions of dollars to acquire new water sources and invest in aging infrastructure.

The House has voted 227-198 to overturn the Biden administration’s protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, advancing long-held Republican arguments that the regulations are an environmental overreach and burden to business.

A survey was commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade and included responses from households in both rural border communities and in urban areas across Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to investigate allegations that the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s system of issuing permits has made it too easy for industries to contaminate rivers, lakes and estuaries.

Officials said the water levels at the local reservoir were too low to meet safety standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed handing more power to states and tribes to block major energy projects based on water quality concerns.

In a story published January 24, 2022, about the Supreme Court deciding to take up an important Clean Water Act case, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

This Sept. 14, 2020 photo shows shows a Duke Energy natural gas-fired electric power plant on Sutton Lake in Wilmington, N.C. It went online in 2013 and replaced a coal-fired plant that had polluted the lake with coal ash. It would provide a source of steam to generate electricity and a place to cool hot water from an adjacent coal-fired plant. Sutton Lake became popular with boaters and anglers, yielding bass, crappie, bluegill and other panfish. But environmental groups challenging the Trump rule in court say it opens up reservoirs like Sutton Lake to similar abuse.