AUSTIN, Texas - One of the bills Gov. Perry signed into law over the weekend allows Texas to make an end run around the 2007 Energy Independence Act, which phases out the sale of inefficient light bulbs by 2014. The new law says Texans can continue to buy whatever bulbs they want - as long as they're made and sold in the state.

Critics say the measure is political grandstanding - that no manufacturers are likely to start producing old-style incandescent bulbs for just one state. Supporters say they don't like federal intrusion, but Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) spokesman Bob Keefe says most people do not mind energy-efficiency-motivated restrictions on some consumer products.

"You don't see anybody saying we need to go back to cars that only get 10 miles a gallon, or we need to turn in our high-efficiency refrigerators and go back to the world of ice boxes."

There's nothing radical about switching to more efficient bulbs, Keefe says, pointing out that the national standards were signed into law by President George W. Bush. According to the NRDC, Texas would see big benefits - economically and environmentally - by phasing out inefficient bulbs.

"We estimate that the state could reduce its overall energy costs by about $900 million a year, which would save the average Texas household about $100 a year."

He says the reduced power plant production would cut emissions as much as taking 1.1 million automobiles off the road.

While the federal plan does not outlaw incandescent bulbs - as long as they're designed to consume less energy - it is helping pave the way for compact fluorescents and more expensive LEDs to command a larger share of the lighting market. Disposal of compact fluorescents is a challenge, because they contain small amounts toxic mercury. However, Robin Schneider, executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, points out that power plants release greater amounts of mercury and other pollutants.

Still, she adds, consumers need more help dealing with compact fluorescents.

"We have light bulb makers who are marketing an environmentally-friendly product. However, they are not really addressing the environmental side effects of the mercury inside those florescent bulbs."

She supports legislation - as three other states have passed - that would compel manufacturers to take back used compact fluorescents and recycle the mercury. Lighting take-back bills were unsuccessfully introduced in Texas during the last two legislative sessions.

The Texas law takes effect Jan 1. Meanwhile, Texas Congressman Joe Barton (R-Arlington) is trying to repeal the national Energy Independence Act.



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A new film documents the 2018 battle between Colorado environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over proposed fracking regulations.

The film also documents a grassroots effort by Colorado Rising to pass a ballot initiative which would create a 2,500-foot setback for all hydraulic fracturing wells in the state, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Sarah Schulte, organizing committee member of GreenFaith Boulder County, which recently previewed the film for about 100 members, said the film has a strong message.

"What probably makes the film pretty dramatic and kind of shocking is the length to which oil and natural gas industries in Colorado set out to thwart them," Schulte pointed out. "Not only with some of the tactics you might expect, but also some kind of more nefarious tactics sabotaging their signature gathering, for example."

In the end, the petroleum industry defeated the measure after a $50 million campaign opposing it. Schulte acknowledged Colorado Rising raised only $1 million for its campaign. After the election, the state adopted a 1,000-foot drilling setback from schools and residential property lines.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, involves drillers injecting a mixture of chemicals underground to break up the shale and free the oil. The chemicals used in the process, which are sometimes toxic, can pollute groundwater and make the surrounding land unstable.

Schulte emphasized the movie had a powerful effect on the group's members.

"I think most people were pretty angry and maybe even a little sad after seeing how these kinds of politics play out in Colorado," Schulte observed. "They asked questions like what can we do next? How do you keep going when it's so difficult to fight such a big and powerful industry?"

The film, Fracking the System: Colorado's Oil and Gas Wars, is currently being previewed by select audiences. It has won the "Spirit of Activism" award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival
and the "Environmental Award" at the 2024 DOCUTAH International Film Festival.

As part of an effort to restore the Mississippi River delta, an organization is collaborating with nature to address environmental challenges.

The Big Muddy is the second-longest river in North America, flowing more than 2,300 miles.

Simone Maloz, campaign director for the group Restore the Mississippi River Delta, said the coalition uses nature-based solutions to help tackle some of the river's environmental problems in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We use the power and the sediment the river provides to help us to put solutions into place," Maloz explained. "For example, we might have an area of wetlands that needs to be nourished with freshwater sediment, we can tap into that wonderful resource that we have."

Maloz pointed out some farmers are turning to nature-based solution, using cover crops like clover or other plants to protect the soil. Cover crops typically grow in between primary crops, or are planted in the offseason to help keep nutrients on the ground so they do not become toxic in the water as runoff.

Maloz emphasized nature-based solutions are key to building resilient communities, which she said are those communities thinking about how to plan for climate change, such as floods, droughts, and rising sea levels, wildfires, hurricanes and coastal threats.

"What we know about resilient communities, whether you're on the coast, or whether you're not on the coast, is about how you can brace yourself for these impacts and how you can more quickly recover," Maloz stressed. "We know that when you include nature in those plans, it helps you to better do that."

Maloz added her group is involved in various projects along the Mississippi River, using sediment to replenish marshes, rebuild ridges and barrier islands and create habitats for migratory birds.


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The Iowa Environmental Council has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to invoke emergency powers to protect sensitive soil and groundwater in northeast Iowa.

The council is holding a public webinar today and wants the EPA to address groundwater contamination in northeast Iowa's so-called Driftless region. The groundwater there has a well-documented history of nitrate contamination.

Alicia Vasto, director of water program for the council, said the highly porous and soluble karst soil prevalent in the region is susceptible to contamination from centralized animal feeding operations.

"We did some analyses of private well data and public water systems and found that there was a lot of contamination of nitrate in those drinking water sources," Vasto reported. "The state has really failed to take action meaningfully that would address those problems."

The state has said it is constantly working to upgrade groundwater quality standards and is in the process of taking public input on creating yet another set of rules.

Vasto emphasized since the state has failed to address the water safety concerns for decades, the council and a coalition of other environmental groups have, in effect, gone above the state's head to the EPA, asking the agency to implement an emergency stop gap on nitrate pollution the way the agency did in neighboring Minnesota last year.

"We're asking that at, at minimum, the EPA would require the state of Iowa to do what they required the state of Minnesota to do under the same petition," Vasto explained. "Because the geology of northeast Iowa is the same as of southeast Minnesota."

The council's recommendations include calling on the EPA to create a communications plan with residents whose water could be at risk, create a drinking water sampling plan, and establishing a thorough permitting process for centralized animal feeding operations.


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