This week's drought report from TWDB shows statewide drought contraction for the fourth consecutive week. The drought map shows improvements were especially marked in the Panhandle, North Central, and West Texas. The TWDB shared that "Since September 29, drought has contracted from 92 to 68 percent of the state."
The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals has ruled that citizen advocacy groups do not have a private right of action to enforce alleged violations of Texas environmental statutes. This comes after San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper sought to intervene in a State suit against Dow Hydrocarbons and Resources, LLC (Dow) and Union Carbide Corporation (Union) for their violation of a permit issued by TCEQ. This ruling in favor of Dow and Union's petition for writ of mandamus narrows the access private organizations have to enforcing other environmental statutes.
Clayton Tucker has won the race for Texas Agricultural Commissioner after campaigning on the promise to work with lawmakers to reduce negative effects data centers might have had on land, water, energy, and agricultural production. Outgoing commissioner Sid Miller stated, "When it comes to agriculture, Clayton and I haven’t found anything we disagree on. He truly loves farmers and ranchers like I do. He’ll have some good, fresh ideas and probably make it better.”