r/enviroaction

Public comment closes 11:59 PM CT on June 16. Push back in two minutes here: https://tceq.commentinput.com/?id=bB4ec365S (Rule Project No. 2026-006-309-OW)

The TCEQ is writing rules to permit spreading "produced water" — the salty oil-and-gas wastewater that often carries drilling chemicals, heavy metals, and naturally occurring radioactive material like radium — onto land. In its own paperwork, the agency tells its commissioners the rule is "not expected to affect the regulated community," tells the public it "does not create, expand, repeal, or limit" any regulation, and files two cost estimates under the same project number: one says it costs nothing, the other says the cost "cannot be estimated." It claims the rule has "no environmental purpose" — while also touting "increased protection of water quality." And it doesn't require testing the applied water for radioactivity or heavy metals at all.

Last year Texas also passed HB 49, which shields operators, treatment companies, and landowners from liability for harm from treated produced water unless they're grossly negligent or break the rules. The Legislature took the courtroom off the table — so these rules are the only protection left, and they're being written right now with almost no press attention.

Public comment is the one place to push back before this becomes law, and the only record a court can review later.

Not sure what to say? Start from this and put it in your own words — identical form comments get counted as one:

>Re: Land Application of Produced Water, Rule Project No. 2026-006-309-OW. I'm a [Texas resident / landowner / parent / angler / rancher] and I have serious concerns about this rule. [One line on why you care.] The agency's filings contradict each other — it tells its commissioners the rule "won't affect" the industry while claiming it improves "water quality," and files two different cost estimates. The public deserves a clear, written account of what this rule does, what it costs, and who pays. I ask TCEQ to require testing for salts, heavy metals, and radioactivity before any land application, adopt enforceable water-quality and soil standards, and commit to full transparency. With HB 49 limiting liability, these rules are the public's main protection — they must be strong.

Or raise your own angle: salt and radium build up in soil permanently; you can't test for chemicals the industry keeps proprietary; TPWD's Kills and Spills Team has already tied produced water to fish kills; who pays for cleanup when it goes wrong.

To comment — by 11:59 PM CT, June 16, 2026:

• Submit: https://tceq.commentinput.com/?id=bB4ec365S
• Reference Rule Project No. 2026-006-309-OW

Not against development in Albania of course.

But if the plan is for the ultra top 0.1% rich to reap all the benefits, why should we destroy our protected areas?

The Bureau of Land Management is holding the largest oil and gas lease sale in Colorado's modern history in 10 days. Over 100 parcels totaling 156,000 acres in northwestern Colorado — much of it just south of Dinosaur National Monument, in the middle of the state's largest elk herd migration corridor — go up for lease on June 16.

This was mandated by H.R. 1, which requires BLM to hold a minimum of four lease sales per year in Colorado and stripped land managers of most of their discretion to defer sensitive parcels. Once these leases are issued, they're extraordinarily hard to reverse — even if the land is never actually drilled.

I just filed a constituent message with AG Phil Weiser's office urging him to pursue emergency legal action before the 16th. You can do the same at complaints.coag.gov/s/contact-us — select "Voice My Opinion," name the Bureau of Land Management as the organization, and make your case.

Other things you can do right now:

• Contact AG Weiser directly: complaints.coag.gov/s/contact-us — takes about 5 minutes
• Contact the Wilderness Workshop: They already filed a 106-page legal challenge in March and may be pursuing litigation. wilderness-workshop.org
• Contact Rocky Mountain Wild: They compiled the endangered species analysis (17 rare/threatened species affected). rockymountainwild.org
• Call Governor Polis's office: He appoints the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which is the state's main backstop at the permitting stage if leasing proceeds. 303-866-2471
• Contact Sen. Bennet and Sen. Hickenlooper: Both need to hear constituent volume on this.

Conservation groups have already argued in formal comments that BLM's environmental assessment is legally deficient — particularly its deferral of air quality analysis for parcels in areas already failing federal standards. That's the kind of NEPA vulnerability that can support a legal challenge, and acting before June 16 gives the strongest chance of stopping the sale entirely.

10 days. Spread this.

Please sign this petition to save Albania’s Vjosa-Narta Protected Natural Area.

Illegal construction of a Kushner-backed luxury resort is being built at the Pishë-Porto-Narta Protected Area. This is within the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape, part of the delta of the Vjosa, one of Europe’s last wild rivers. The area shelters more than 70 endangered species and more than 200 bird species, including Flamingos and Dalmatian Pelicans. And it’s a critical migration point for millions of birds flying from Europe to Africa each year. Home to the Mediterranean Monk Seal, one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals.

There is no ecological survey released, or transparency over the mega resort project as machinery started making their way through. Current protests in Albania have managed to halt the construction temporarily.

The current prime minister changed protected laws of the area in 2024 to make room for tourist development.

Please go to cutting edge hydro seeding In Windham Maine page on google and leave them a 1star review. They were pulling water out of a local stream and don’t care.