Railroad Commission Approves Toxic Waste Ponds Next to Baptist Camp

Texas regulators recently authorized a company to operate ponds to store and recycle millions of gallons of oilfield wastewater laced with toxic chemicals next to a Baptist summer camp in the Permian Basin. The Richards Recycling Facility will store, treat and recycle produced water, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, after obtaining a state permit on Jan. 30. Staff and board members at the Circle 6 Baptist Camp worry the facility will jeopardize their well water and expose campers to hazardous air pollution. “I…Continue Reading “Railroad Commission Approves Toxic Waste Ponds Next to Baptist Camp”

Oil and Gas Companies Spill Millions of Gallons of Wastewater in Texas

Since January, I’ve been working at Inside Climate News as their Texas reporter. Today we co-published an investigation with the Texas Tribune on the scale of produced water spills in Texas. I teamed up with data reporter Peter Aldhous to analyze produced water spills data, provided in response to open records requests to the Railroad Commission.  The prolific oil and gas wells of Texas also generate billions of gallons of salty liquid known as produced water. A lot of this toxic water, just like crude…Continue Reading “Oil and Gas Companies Spill Millions of Gallons of Wastewater in Texas”

‘Once in a lifetime’: funding helps El Paso close the water gap in colonias

Colonias like Cochran formed in U.S.-Mexico border counties such as El Paso during the 1970s and 1980s when developers sold land far-removed from water and sewer services. Texas adopted legislation in 1989 to prohibit these developments, but righting the wrongs of the past is still a work in progress. Even after decades of work to connect colonia residents to services, an estimated 1,400 El Paso County residents still don’t have running water at home. A patchwork of public and non-profit funds is helping close the…Continue Reading “‘Once in a lifetime’: funding helps El Paso close the water gap in colonias”

Before Uvalde school shooting, Mexican-Americans fought for decades to improve school system

UVALDE — Students across the United States walked out of classes Thursday to protest gun violence and show support for the students and teachers killed in Uvalde – schools that have a little-known history of activism and walkouts. Robb Elementary School is now the site of the second most-deadly school shooting in U.S. history. Five decades earlier, Uvalde schools were the site of one of the longest school walkouts in Texas history, prompted by discrimination against Mexican-American students. As parents press law enforcement agencies for…Continue Reading “Before Uvalde school shooting, Mexican-Americans fought for decades to improve school system”

‘Neighborhood is treated like a dumping ground’: Activists say Texas should own up to air pollution

Every morning, cars and trucks line up at the Bridge of Americas Port of Entry, awaiting entry to El Paso from Juárez, engines idling, and exhaust filling the air during this rush hour ritual in the borderland. Zavala Elementary School, built in 1925, is just feet from the highway leading to the border crossing. The Bridge of the Americas was originally constructed in 1967, and as international trade through El Paso grew, I-10, Route 54 and the I-10 connector gradually encroached on the school. “Our neighborhood is…Continue Reading “‘Neighborhood is treated like a dumping ground’: Activists say Texas should own up to air pollution”

Outside: The Latin American Immigrants Shaking Up New York City’s Bike Races

I wrote for Outside about Daniel Pérez and the Sanba Cycling Team. “On a July morning, the cyclists start arriving at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park before dawn, the pavement still wet from an overnight downpour. More than 300 people are registered for the second race in this year’s Lucarelli and Castaldi Cup, a fixture in New York City’s cycling circuit. Competitive cyclists in the city are finally releasing the pent-up energy of a year without bike racing, waiting out the pandemic. Daniel Pérez, founder of the…Continue Reading “Outside: The Latin American Immigrants Shaking Up New York City’s Bike Races”

The Nation: Saving Lives and Going Hungry: NYC Ambulance Workers Demand Higher Pay

“Mike Greco was worried. In early March 2020, New York City had confirmed its first case of Covid-19, and the vice president of Local 2507, the union representing employees of the city’s emergency medical services (EMS), knew how overworked and exhausted EMS workers already were. At a special City Council hearing on March 5, he testified that EMS was already handling 1.5 million calls a year. “If you were to have another half million calls in a pandemic, you would overwhelm the system,” he said….Continue Reading “The Nation: Saving Lives and Going Hungry: NYC Ambulance Workers Demand Higher Pay”

The Guardian: ‘It doesn’t feel worth it’: Covid-19 is pushing New York’s EMTs to the brink

I wrote for the Lost on the Frontline series of The Guardian about the sacrifices New York City’s EMTs and paramedics have made over the past year, and their demands for fair compensation. — In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came Covid-19. Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrest calls a week; now he’s…Continue Reading “The Guardian: ‘It doesn’t feel worth it’: Covid-19 is pushing New York’s EMTs to the brink”

NACLA: Mexico’s Fracking Impasse

I wrote for NACLA on the fracking industry in Mexico. “The promised fracking boom in Mexico, hyped in U.S. media and pushed by the U.S. government, has yet to materialize. Local communities and environmental organizations want it to stay that way. Anti-fracking activists see a window of opportunity to push President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to put a fracking ban into law. They worry that if fracking does eventually pick up, before or after AMLO leaves office, it could drain and contaminate dwindling water resources.”…Continue Reading “NACLA: Mexico’s Fracking Impasse”

“‘Do you know what torture it is to go hungry while I am carrying your food on my back?’ Delivery worker Paulo Roberto da Silva Lima posed this question in a video in March, calling out food delivery apps for leaving workers unprotected in the pandemic. Da Silva, better known as “Galo” because as a child he dreamed of having a Sete Galo Honda motorcycle, filmed it on his 31st birthday. He was behind on bills at his home on the outskirts of São Paulo….Continue Reading “Vice Motherboard: ‘They Aren’t Anything Without Us’: Gig Workers Are Striking Throughout Latin America”