#BoycottCyberMonday#TaxTheBillionaires #EatTheRich#GeneralStrikeRevolution https://t.co/Qua981YX9y pic.twitter.com/KoCmC0rVVq
— 🌹 🔥 Dark Warlord 🔥 🌹 (@drkwarlord) November 28, 2021
Hey capitalism, come clean up your trash. https://t.co/25pDKmw0pn
— Carl the Recluse, socially distant since birth (@ButIDigressBlog) November 28, 2021
A very Merry Christmas to ExxonMobil Beaumont for making their locked-out employees' holiday a little darker.
It’s been nearly 8 months since members of the @SteelWorkers union have been locked out of @ExxonMobilBmt's plant. One local Samaritan is taking it upon himself to make sure the children of workers will have gifts to unwrap this Christmas. https://t.co/HUUfkUrOKn #SETX
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) November 29, 2021
A bit of Lone Star political goings on:
Matthew McConaughey announced that he would not run for governor of Texas for now. The actor said running for governor is a "humbling and inspiring path to ponder."
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 29, 2021
"It is also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment." https://t.co/qG2VcOCCrw
Thus endeth the latest episode of Hamlet-esque dithering of potential Texas Democratic goobernatorial candidates. This series began in 2012 and ended in January of this year when the original lead, Julián Castro, was first cast. That hasn't stopped national and state media from keeping candles lit at the church altar for him. We can only pray to Doorknob that he will eventually join Henry Cisneros in the Hall of Forgotten.
And that smell isn't from Pasadena; it's River Oaks Lawn Odor.
$770,000 for "much-needed equipment and training for HPD".
Well as long as it's for the cops. Let's get a bipartisan photo and demonstrate that George Carlin was right all along.
Campaign finance reports show who got the most natural gas and electricity lobby largesse, amounting to ‘a check for a job well done,’ a watchdog says. Via @wfaa @wfaacharlotte @jptrahan #txlege #txenergy https://t.co/em5Owqbn68
— RA News (@RANewsTX) November 22, 2021
THIS is how to analyze campaign finance reports.
Reminder: The Texas Railroad Commission recently voted to let #consumers pay off $3.4B of the profits made by the gas industry during the winter storm. This will be added to Texans’ energy bills for the next 30 years. #txlegehttps://t.co/1N2wvLLcZk
— Texas Consumer Association (@TXConsumer) November 24, 2021
After cleaning up ERCOT and PUC (I perhaps should have inserted a 'sic' after "cleaning up") heads need to roll at the Railroad Commission. They won't.
"Texas Railroad Commissioners Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick perpetuated myths about rival energy producers in an attempt to absolve the industry they are supposed to regulate. Both should resign," The Editorial Board writes. https://t.co/cikjSzOrUB
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) November 28, 2021
Let's move on to the criminal and social justice lowlights.
Scores of witness statements and hundreds of pieces of evidence weren't enough to convict Billy Chemirmir—the former health care worker who prosecutors deem responsible for the deaths of at least 20 seniors who wore valuable jewelry and lived alone. https://t.co/7GEVSQ2NOm
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) November 23, 2021
The University of Texas at Austin will keep the name of Stan Richards on one of its schools.
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) November 24, 2021
This comes over a year after he said a marketing campaign for a Motel 6 ad campaign was “too Black” for the motel’s “white supremacist constituents.” https://t.co/BnNtdXBy0c
More than 14,000 children in #Texas lost at least 1 parent or caregiver to #COVID-19 through the first 14 months of the pandemic. About 58% of the children who lost parents were Hispanic.
— Becca Carballo (@Becca_Carballo) November 28, 2021
"I never imagined becoming a widow in my 30s,” one mother said. https://t.co/cnIr6uA3eG
This piece touches briefly on the murder of my great great grandfather, Jesus Bazan. Public schools in Texas don't have any curriculum on the violent, racist history of the Texas Rangers and their reign of terror on Mexican-Americans. https://t.co/yHz2Yc1Hof
— Denise Flores (@TheDeniseFlores) November 23, 2021
Cavanna Smith, a 25-year-old pregnant teacher who was shot and killed in Houston last month, solved her own case texting her location before her death. Her boyfriend was arrested by Houston police on Friday. #txlege https://t.co/vCQwt2vX2I
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 23, 2021
Repeat offender @ATT is funding anti-abortion extremism in states like Ohio and Texas. #txlege https://t.co/0sRYqoTWXl
— www.needabortion.org (@CarolineDuble) November 23, 2021
About 20% of Texas traffic stops last year were for "vehicle violations" (broken tail lights, expired registrations, hard-to-see license plates). These stops aren't about making roads safer. They're about detaining & searching. Disarm traffic cops! https://t.co/8uXjcOG9Gy
— Texas Civil Rights Project (@TXCivilRights) November 25, 2021
Opinon: It's no surprise Cornerstone Church, whose pastor has woven conspiracy theories into sermons, hosted a conference where people chanted, "Let's go, Brandon." https://t.co/dBFSfpwnYJ
— San Antonio Report (@SAReport) November 24, 2021
Whew. A week's worth of foul behavior over the Thanksgiving holiday. Quite an accomplishment. Here are some climate updates from around the Great State.
Can the Texas power grid handle the new Taylor Samsung plant and two bitcoin mining facilities in Rockdale? https://t.co/E5SFzG0Vy9
— KVUE News (@KVUE) November 24, 2021
Greg Abbott guarantees us that it will. What does he know that he isn't telling us? Let's keep our eyes peeled for clues.
It will be the largest economic development by measure of capital investment in the history of the Texas Innovation Corridor, which it describes as Hays and Caldwell counties. @hayscountygov https://t.co/gTLkdpBujf#254Strong #txlege
— Texas County magazine (@TexasCountymag) November 24, 2021
Groundwater levels are declining in Texas, according to two reports published last week by @MeadowsC4Water and @EDFtx. #txlege #txwaterhttps://t.co/yLH929BZoE
— Texas 2036 (@Texas2036) November 23, 2021
#CorpusChristi: Rising seas bring more flooding; extreme heat is popping the pipes. In a few more decades the nation’s leading oil and gas exporter will be underwater. https://t.co/hthFDHp7oF #climatechange via @CoveringClimate + @whowhatwhy
— Deceleration News (@MyDeceleration) November 19, 2021
And via Bloomberg (use this link for Yahoo and jump the paywall) a Permian-based oil company went up in flames, burning their lenders and the planet as well.
Mark Siffin, 71, was no ordinary wildcatter. Sitting in an office in Houston on a rainy day last year, wearing navy corduroys and red sneakers, Siffin recounted the circuitous path he had taken to become the chief executive officer of MDC Energy LLC. He had dabbled in lots of businesses, from gemstones to art, before becoming a big-time real estate developer with projects in West Hollywood and Times Square. Then, in 2018, he snagged more than $700 million in loans to drill wells in the Permian Basin ...
It took just 14 months for his company and his half-century dream to implode. Siffin shelled out money he didn’t have, his lenders said, drilling wells too fast as oil prices slumped and investor interest in the shale patch waned. In November 2019, MDC plunged into bankruptcy.
[...]
While Siffin was battling with creditors, his employees were dealing with another problem: MDC couldn’t pay to treat the unwanted byproducts that come up with its oil. The company was required by its pipeline operator to get the hydrogen sulfide content below 4 parts per million. A few of MDC’s wells produced gas with a concentration of 2,000 parts or higher, state records show.
Instead, MDC burned it off. Javier Morin, a former completions consultant for the company, remembers driving from the trailer where he slept to the well pad and seeing either side of Interstate 20 lit up by MDC flares. “At one point it looked like a little town,” said Morin.
In November 2019, the same month MDC filed for bankruptcy, the company’s flaring doubled from the previous month, according to production reports filed with the state, while its gas output grew just 1.4%. By the end of that year, MDC was flaring more than 12% of all the natural gas it produced. That rate continued in 2020, making MDC the second-worst Permian operator for flaring in a list of 45 companies compiled by consulting firm Rystad Energy.
Data derived from satellite imagery show that MDC’s flaring may have been even greater -- roughly twice as much in 2020 as what it reported to regulators ...
Don't miss Sharon Wilson's reporting at the end.
Sadly I have more Tweets and links on all these topics that will appear in the next Wrangle, tomorrow or later in the week. Let's wrap today on a calmer -- if not entirely happier -- note.
Bill Harwell, KUT's weekend morning host and a member of Austin's broadcast community for nearly 50 years, died earlier this month due to heart complications. He was 69. https://t.co/L2dsWjPOvX
— KUT Austin (@KUT) November 27, 2021
“The Camino Real connects people, places, and cultures,” Executive Director of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association Steven Gonzales says. “Without it, we would not be calling Texas "Texas" today.” #longreads #SundayLR https://t.co/GPCmTP0MEG
— Texas Highways Magazine (@TexasHighways) November 29, 2021
Texans can see a living nativity at a cowboy church, take in animal-shaped lights at a big-city zoo, or ride a train to the North Pole. Where to take in the holiday sights this year: https://t.co/rxLdJRadcs
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) November 28, 2021
