A federal judge in El Paso issued a temporary restraining order stopping Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from carrying out his executive order restricting migrant travel in the state.

The Department of Justice asked for a temporary restraining order to keep Abbott from using state troopers to stop vehicles suspected of transporting migrants. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted that request on Tuesday.

A Justice Department attorney in a hearing Monday argued Texas attempted to unlawfully create its own “immigration regime.” Immigration policy is under the purview of the federal government.

Attorneys for the state told the judge that the governor’s executive order is about COVID-19 health concerns and not immigration. The temporary restraining order is in effect until August 13, and the judge may extend it.

“The Court’s recent order is temporary and based on limited evidence,” Abbott’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to providing the Court with the evidence to support the Governor’s Executive Order to protect Texans.”

The case comes amid a resurgence of the coronavirus with the spread of the Delta variant. The Abbott administration has restrained Texas communities from instituting mask or vaccine mandates while focusing his COVID rhetoric on the border region.

There were more than 188,000 attempted crossings from Mexico into the U.S. in June, the highest in a decade.

Abbott has said that he thinks the federal government was doing a better job of securing the border under former President Donald Trump, so he had Texas step in earlier this year to bolster the response.

In May, he issued a disaster declaration because, he said, illegal crossings “posed an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster.”

Weeks later, he announced he would continue to build the border wall that Trump made central to his presidency. But Abbott went a step further, saying that he would arrest as many people as possible who cross by charging them with state crimes like trespassing and vandalism.

Last week, Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to begin assisting state troopers with those arrests.

Immigrant rights activists said Abbott’s latest order directing state troopers to stop any vehicles suspected of transporting migrants — which is now temporarily paralyzed by Tuesday’s restraining order — is illegal for a number of reasons, including the fact that it invites racial profiling.

“The state of Texas is using state jails to incarcerate immigration violators, arresting people, immigrants, under the theory of trespass … These are very, very problematic. And I would say, It invites a constitutional catastrophe,” said Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the University of Houston’s immigration clinic.

Hoffman recently published a piece for the Yale Journal on Regulation listing the limitations of state immigration enforcement activities. He noted that Arizona tried to pass state laws turning federal immigration law into state violations in 2012. They lost more than they won. Texas’ attempts to incrementally usurp federal authority, he said, also likely won’t work.

“The issue there in Arizona was that immigration enforcement is exclusively a federal matter. It’s not for the states to do,” he explained.

Michael Greenberger at the University of Maryland said Texas is a little different than Arizona, since the state is using existing laws.

“I think he would have an argument that he’s protecting the sovereignty of the state’s borders, by having people who are not allowed to come into the state,” Greenberger said.

He explained that the problem is that despite Abbott threading the needle in some ways to frame it in state law terms, the governor is constantly arguing in interviews that Texas is enforcing federal law because the Biden administration can’t — that sounds a lot like the Arizona case. And those comments would all be admissible in court.

“The temporary halt is really important because it’s a clear recognition of the legality of this order. And as the case progresses, it’s a signal as to where the judge is standing and what they’re looking at, based on the law in front of them,” said Rochelle Garza, a civil rights attorney. “So ultimately, we can expect that the executive order will be struck down as unconstitutional.”

Source: www.houstonpublicmedia.org

The Railroad Commission of Texas assessed $621,604 in fines involving 151 enforcement dockets against operators and businesses at the Commissioners’ Conference on Tuesday. The Commission has primary oversight and enforcement of the state’s oil and gas industry and intrastate pipeline safety.

Ten dockets involved $238,895 in penalties after operators failed to appear at Commission enforcement proceedings. Master Default Orders can be found on the RRC Hearings Division webpage.

Operators were ordered to come into compliance with Commission rules and assessed $74,459 for oil and gas, LP-Gas, or pipeline safety rule violations. Pipeline operators and excavators were assessed $308,250 for violations of the Commission’s Pipeline Damage Prevention rules. Master Agreed Orders can be found on the RRC General Counsel webpage.

In the absence of timely motions for rehearing, decisions are final as stated in these final orders.

Source: www.rrc.texas.gov

Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell Brasil) announced today a final investment decision taken by the Libra consortium, operated by Petrobras, to contract the Mero-4 floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at the Mero field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

This is the fourth production system to be deployed in the Mero field. Final investment decisions were previously taken for the Mero 1, Mero 2, and Mero 3 FPSOs. Each unit has a daily operational capacity rate of 180,000 barrels of oil/day. The Pioneiro de Libra FPSO (50,000 barrels of oil/day) has been producing at Mero since 2017 and is a key source of information for the Libra consortium to aid further development and optimize the productivity of the field, reservoir, and wells.

“As a replication of previous FPSOs for the Brazilian pre-salt, Mero-4 is a testimony to the way the Libra Consortium partners are working together in an integrated way to streamline and make our processes more efficient,” said Wael Sawan, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. “We are proud to continue working alongside our partners to leverage our collective expertise to develop the country’s resources in a competitive and responsible manner.”

Shell’s Powering Progress strategy to thrive through the energy transition includes increasing investment in lower-carbon energy solutions while continuing to pursue the most energy-efficient and highest return Upstream investments. In addition to its operations in Brazil, Shell is also the leading operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Source: www.shell.com

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration collaborated with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to revise a handbook on workplace safety and health information for small business employers.

The Small Business Safety and Health Handbook highlights the benefits of implementing an effective safety and health program, provides self-inspection checklists for employers to identify workplace hazards, and reviews important workplace safety and health resources for small businesses.

“The revised Small Business Handbook is a valuable tool to help employers identify where to take action to make their workplaces safer and more healthful for their employees,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick. “Safety has to be a continuous process that involves preventing injuries and illnesses, and saving lives.”

The handbook includes self-inspection checklists for various work processes in general industry workplaces, such as fire protection, hazard communication, permit-required confined spaces, respiratory protection, and walking-working surfaces. The checklists are not intended for construction or maritime industries.

“Small businesses face many unique challenges and providing a safe and healthy work environment shouldn’t be one of them,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “The updated Small Business Handbook is an easy-to-use tool to help keep your most valuable asset – your employees – safe and healthy on the job.”

A section of the handbook lists OSHA and NIOSH resources available to help employers recognize and correct safety and health hazards in their workplace, including the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program. The handbook also gives employers information on whistleblower protection laws, training through OSHA’s education centers, and professional occupational safety and health associations with local chapters that small businesses can join.

Source: www.osha.gov