Corporate and conservation partners are coming together and enhancing wetlands on Texas’ Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) to improve wildlife habitat and water resources in the Trinity River Basin.

Ducks Unlimited, working in partnership with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), will construct approximately 206 acres of new wetlands within the WMA. Water from the Trinity River will flood the wetland complex during the winter to provide habitat for a variety of bird species, and in the spring, water from the wetlands will flow back into the river. The design of the wetlands should reduce sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorous levels in the water, which will help improve water quality overall in the Trinity River by reconditioning more than 200 million gallons of water annually.

“The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is excited to be working alongside Ducks Unlimited and the Texas Water Action Collaborative on this important project,” said John Silovsky, Wildlife Division Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. “Ducks Unlimited is a long-standing partnership that has provided direct assistance to TPWD to construct approximately 1,350 acres of wetland habitat on Richland Creek WMA since 1987.”

The Texas Water Action Collaborative (TxWAC) partners PepsiCo, Facebook, and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation along with a private family foundation, are also supporting the project. Led by Texan by Nature, TxWAC is a coalition of industry, nonprofit and governmental organizations established in 2021 to invest in efforts along the Upper Trinity River that yield positive water quality and quantity returns. The collaborative chose to start with the Upper Trinity Basin because so many people in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, the two largest human and corporate populations in the state of Texas, depend on the Trinity River system.

“As one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, we recognize that PepsiCo not only has an opportunity but a responsibility to use our scale and reach to ensure a more sustainable future,” said Tim Carey, Vice President of Sustainability at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “We recently announced PepsiCo Positive, a strategic end-to-end transformation of our business and supply chain, with sustainability at the center of how we will create growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people. We’re proud to put that into action through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited to implement this important water replenishment project in the Trinity River Basin.”

Richland Creek WMA is managed by the TPWD and is adjacent to Richland Chambers Reservoir, which was built by the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) in the 1980s to help meet the growing water supply needs of the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The creation of the WMA helped mitigate wildlife habitat loss resulting from the construction of the reservoir.

“We are so pleased to be a part of the Texas Water Action Collaborative,” said DU Director of Development Bob Locke. “It’s been a great opportunity to bring together corporate and foundation partners to an already strong working relationship with TPWD and Texan by Nature. Adequate conservation of natural resources, especially water, will take the combined efforts of all of us, and projects like this are proving grounds for our ability to come together and make it happen.”

Since its construction, the TPWD has worked closely with TRWD to develop an extensive wetland treatment system on the WMA that currently covers over 5,000 acres and helps treat raw Trinity River Water before it enters the reservoir and is eventually delivered to municipal and industrial water users. This highly successful collaboration is the model for the new project that will provide similar benefits to fish and wildlife and water quality in the Trinity River.

“Collaborative cross-industry partnerships for conservation yield impactful results and accelerate conservation action,” says Joni Carswell, CEO and President of Texan by Nature, “Texas’ population of 29 million people is expected to double by 2050, putting pressure on the state’s land, water, wildlife, and infrastructure. As the 10th largest economy in the world with a GDP of $1.9 trillion, new water opportunities and conservation investments are needed to maintain economic leadership.”

Source: texanbynature.org

Railroad Commission of Texas Chairman Wayne Christian issued the following statement regarding new methane standards proposed by the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“While Americans are paying $144 million more for gas per day than in the past, the Biden administration continues their efforts to tax and regulate the oil and gas industry out of existence,” said Christian. “Texas is the number one oil and gas producer in the nation, and these continued anti -oil and -gas policies will kill jobs, stifle economic growth, and make America more reliant of foreign nations to provide reliable energy.”

“It’s hypocritical to kill clean fossil fuel jobs here in America claiming it ensures a clean environment, and then beg our foreign adversaries to produce more using much less environment-friendly methods. The U.S. is a global leader in reducing emissions, not through regulation – but technological innovation. In fact, over the last fifty years, the six major pollutants regulated by the EPA have fallen by 77 percent while the U.S. economy grew 285 percent and its population by 60 percent,” continued Christian.

“With a looming global energy supply crisis and inflation on the rise, we need more economic certainty not less; we need more oil and gas production, not more clean energy fantasies,” said Christian. “I remain committed to ensuring Texans have access to plentiful, reliable, and affordable energy.”

Source: www.rrc.texas.gov

The U.S. Department of Labor has scheduled a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health from 1-5 p.m. EST, Nov. 16, via teleconference and WebEx.

The tentative agenda includes updates from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and discussions about risk-based safety and OSHA’s work on heat illness.

Submit comments and requests to speak at http://www.regulations.gov, the Federal eRulemaking Portal, and refer to Docket No. OSHA-2021-0001. Read the Federal Register notice for more information. All comments must be submitted by Nov. 9.

The meeting is open to the public. The teleconference dial-in number is 1-800-621-7762 and the passcode is 2239082. Join the meeting via WebEx and use the password, Welcome! 24.

NACOSH advises, consults with, and makes recommendations to the Secretaries of Labor and Health and Human Services on matters relating to the administration of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, including regulatory, research, compliance assistance, and enforcement issues.

Source: www.osha.gov