Texas Punishes San Antonio COG for Disclosing Oil/Gas Pollution

Smog in the San Antonio metro area is a problem. The Alamo Area Council of Governments, the regional area which is supposed to control smog, did a study of how oil and gas drilling was affecting the city's air quality. Then, on April 4, 2014, it released some results — which suggested drilling in the Eagle Ford shale did indeed contribute a lot to smog.

About a week later, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which had funded the study, cut AACOG's budget by 25 percent. A TCEQ spokesperson said this was because AACOG had broken an agreement not to release any results without TCEQ approval. The story came out first in the Austin American-Statesman, a subscription-only newspaper, and was further reported by InsideClimate News.

• "Texas Pulls Funding from Air-Quality Program over Released Data," InsideClimate News, April 25, 2014, by Lisa Song.
• Opinion: "TCEQ Punishes Inconvenient Research," San Antonio Express-News, April 25, 2014, by Rick Casey.
• "State Penalizes San Antonio Coalition after Fracking Study Made Public," Austin American-Statesman, April 14, 2014, by Asher Price.
• "Follow Up: State Environmental Agency Says San Antonio Not Shortchanged on Air Quality Work," Austin American-Statesman, April 25, 2014, by Asher Price.
• "Texas Freezes Agency's Funding Over Release of Data Linking Fracking to Ozone Pollution," Dallas Observer, April 15, 2014, by Eric Nicholson.