When Hurricane Beryl swept through southeast Texas on July 8, its damaging 80-mile-per-hour winds took down thousands of trees and knocked out much of the electricity system. More than 2.6 million Texas power customers went without electricity for days in the summer heat. In the days that followed the storm, officials and residents alike turned […]
Alejandra Martinez / Texas Tribune
Alejandra Martinez joined the Tribune in the fall of 2022 as a Dallas-based environmental reporter. She was previously an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America corps member and then covered Dallas City Hall. Before that, she worked as an associate producer at WLRN, South Florida’s public radio station. Alejandra studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, and interned at KUT and NPR's Latino USA. She's a native of the Aldine area of Harris County and speaks fluent Spanish.
Posted inAround the Region
CenterPoint exudes chaos, but also appears to be restoring power faster than it previously has
HOUSTON — At dawn, the group of contractors in neon yellow vests and shirts readied for work. They grabbed the electrical equipment they would need from pallets at Sam Houston Race Park, which had become an abrupt staging area. Before fanning out across the electricity-deprived Houston region Wednesday morning, the workers first ate fluffy eggs, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Dozens of Texas water systems exceed new federal limits on ‘forever chemicals’
Nearly 50 public water utility systems in Texas have exceeded the EPA’s limits for five “forever chemicals” in drinking water.
Posted inEnvironment
Toxic air lingers in a Texas Latino community, revealing failures in state’s air monitoring system
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s decades-old air monitoring system does not measure many of the known pollutants coming from the nearby petrochemical plants.
Posted inEnvironment
Texas companies reported releasing 1 million pounds of excess pollution during recent cold snap
Frigid weather this month caused industrial facilities across Texas to release unplanned air pollution as machinery froze, power went out and icy conditions blocked service crews. Over four chilly days between Jan. 14 and 17, companies submitted reports to Texas’ environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, that attributed at least 36 instances of […]
Posted inEnvironment
‘Major’ problem in Texas: How big polluters evade federal law and get away with it
Industrial developers describe facilities as “minor” polluters to avoid federal permitting requirements. Environmental lawyers say Texas regulators let it happen
Posted inEnvironment
State environmental agency proposes new rules for concrete plants in Texas
Communities statewide have demanded that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality strengthen environmental regulations for concrete batch plants, which combine raw materials such as sand, water and cement to make concrete.