As millions of Texans continue to struggle with financial hardships brought on by mass layoffs and record job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston became one of the first major American cities to allow eviction proceedings to resume after the Texas Supreme Court lifted a temporary statewide moratorium on evictions in May. While the federal CARES Act continues to prohibit […]
Have environmental laws changed during COVID-19? Yes, some temporary changes were recently made to both federal and state environmental policies in response to COVID-19. On March 26, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the agency’s exercise of its enforcement discretion for noncompliance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy applies retroactively beginning on March 13, 2020. A seven-page […]
On May 6, Houston City Council members approved a $15 million rental relief program to help landlords and renters make up for rent losses due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Funding for the City’s rental assistance program comes through the Federal CARES Act. The program will cover up to $1,056 per month in rent expenses for the months of April and […]
Causing billions of dollars in damage annually, flooding is the biggest threat to property and lives during a hurricane or tropical storm. Storm surges can be deadly, and a hurricane’s drenching rains can have profound impacts on communities located further inland, even 100 miles from the coast. While you can never be sure whether your home will flood or not, […]
April 22, 2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated worldwide annually since 1970. Earth Day began as a grassroots movement to raise awareness about our shared dependence on the earth’s environment for our lives and health, and our shared responsibility to protect it. Earth Day sparked the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and saw the […]
Community members have a unique voice when it comes to commenting on large infrastructure projects which can impact community health, safety, and livelihoods. The public comment process provides an opportunity for community members to share their personal experiences and concerns about a potential project undergoing the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act. In the following video presentation, LSLA […]
Unemployment Benefits and Paid Leave Part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family Medical Leave Act are currently being established through the U.S. Department of Labor to help U.S. workers who have lost their jobs or cannot work for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new laws support U.S. […]
Lunch Is Served! As of March 19, 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Governor Abbott declared all schools in Texas temporarily closed. To assist Texas families while schools are closed, meals are available for take-home at no cost to all children through participating school districts. Visit https://txschools.gov/ to find a food distribution site near you. HISD food distribution sites re-opened […]
Port Arthur, TX – Port Arthur Community Action Network (PA-CAN) has secured a brighter future for Port Arthur residents through a recent settlement agreement with Motiva Enterprises LLC on the company’s plans to expand its Port Arthur refinery and operations. The resulting agreement was reached on January 21, 2020 after the community group withdrew its permit challenges with the Texas […]
Starting on January 30, 2020, the City of Houston will host a final round of three community workshops to learn more about TxDOT’s North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP), the proposed expansion of I-45N from downtown to Beltway 8 and changes to downtown-area freeway connections including I-69, I-10 and 288. The City of Houston developed a number of improvements to […]
Houston, TX – Lone Star Legal Aid clients will soon be able to report and track their environmental concerns through a new mobile app. LSLA’s Environmental Justice Team, part of the Equitable Development Initiative, proposed this client-based application as a tool that community members will be able to use for reporting and tracking environmental issues that they see and experience […]
On January 21, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee held a Town Hall at Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where a recent cancer cluster investigation by the Texas Department of State Health Services found higher than expected rates of cancers of the lung and bronchus, esophagus, and larynx in Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods, with elevated rates of […]
Houston, TX – In a stunning reversal of plans, a concrete batch plant operator has withdrawn its application for a permit to operate next to homes and across the street from Highland Park and Community Center, a vital community gathering space and park in Acres Homes, a historic community of color in Northwest Houston. Hundreds of community members were engaged […]
HOUSTON, TX – Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner held a press conference on January 7th in Acres Homes, a historic community of color in Northwest Houston where a concrete batch plant is attempting to secure a permit to operate its facility next to a residential home and across the street from Highland Park and Community Center, a vital community gathering space, […]
On September 13, the Executive Director (ED) of Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a formal response to public comments from hundreds of community members who are opposed to a major amendment on Municipal Solid Waste Permit (MSW) #1599B for Greenhouse Road Landfill, a Type IV Landfill located on Houston’s west side near Katy. If approved by TCEQ, the amendment […]
Bringing over 40 inches of rain to the Upper Texas Coast, many communities are just beginning to assess the damages left behind by Tropical Storm Imelda. Only two years after Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented rainfall, Imelda submerged some areas left untouched by Harvey, while also striking hard-hit communities that are still struggling to recover from Harvey’s damage. During Hurricane Harvey, a […]
Cities across the United States have begun to address Climate Change. On July 25th, 2019, the City of Houston joined these efforts by releasing a Draft Climate Action Plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as a pathway to meet the Paris Agreement. Funded in part by CenterPoint Energy and the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation, the development of […]
Port Arthur, TX – Community group and LSLA client, Port Arthur Community Action Network (PA-CAN), previously announced plans to sue Valero Energy Corporation and its subsidiary, Premcor Refining Group, Inc. (collectively, “Valero”) in federal court for hundreds of violations of the Clean Air Act, totaling over 1.8 million pounds of unauthorized air pollution released by Valero’s Port Arthur refinery since […]
Second Ward, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood on the East End of Houston, has been quickly gentrifying in recent months as private development moves into the neighborhood, taking advantage of the area’s close proximity to downtown and neighborhoods on the City’s near East side that have already become gentrified. As the community transforms, long-time residents are seeking to protect their neighborhood’s […]
Each year, the City of Houston Public Works issues a Water Quality Report on regulated contaminants found in the City’s drinking water supply. A requirement of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the City’s annual Water Quality report is a way for Houstonians to know more about the safety and quality of their drinking […]