In Dallas, EPA casts a net for answers on how pollution from concrete batch plants affects people’s health
EPA scientists went fishing to begin a study of how pollution from a group of concrete batch plants impacts human health. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ff668f556caacc3ee585bd79786c3e77/0130 EPA Concrete Study DR TT 10.JPG)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ff668f556caacc3ee585bd79786c3e77/0130%20EPA%20Concrete%20Study%20DR%20TT%2010.JPG)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/profiles/2022_Alejandra_Martinez_2x3.jpeg)
Alejandra Martinez joined the Tribune in the fall of 2022 as a Dallas-based environmental reporter. She was previously an accountability reporter at KERA, where she began as a Report for America corps member and then covered Dallas City Hall. Before that, she worked as an associate producer at WLRN, South Florida’s public radio station. Alejandra studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, and interned at KUT and NPR's Latino USA. She's a native of the Aldine area of Harris County and speaks fluent Spanish.
Latest Contributions
-
![DALLAS, TX - JANUARY 30, 2024: Jamie Morgan, 35, aquatic biologist at Jacobs Solutions, (left) sets up a gillnet with employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at Fish Trap Lake Park in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The city of Dallas and local community leaders partnered with the EPA on the Cumulative Impacts Assessment Pilots Project, which focuses on the cumulative impacts from concrete batch plants. CREDIT: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Texas companies reported releasing 1 million pounds of excess pollution during recent cold snap
Called “upset” events, companies are required to tell the state when they emit pollution above what their permits allow. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f3fdae92a7320d62e6beedae35e87207/Industrial Corpus MGO TT 03.jpg)
![A house in the Hillcrest neighborhood in Corpus on Feb. 7, 2022. Houses in this neighborhood have co-existed with oil refineries like Flint Hills for decades.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
“I don’t wish this on anyone”: Two families mourn their losses after a record year for Texas heat deaths
More than 300 Texans died from heat in 2023, the most since the state began tracking such deaths in 1989. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/978e916bb325c8e3a621c2475a91a6be/1216 Heat Deaths Freeport EG TT 19.jpg)
![Donald Green's stepson Jerry Barker spreads Green's and Green's dog's ashes, at the backyard of Green's old home in Freeport during a celebration of life, on Dec. 16, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Last year was the hottest ever recorded in Texas
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data shows that average temperatures in 2023 were 3.5 degrees above the 20th century average. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f73c47f1a2c12bf6fc2f4c5d867a2dd0/0710 EMS Heat Ridealong JT TT 06.jpg)
![Austin-Travis County EMS first responders cart Robert Shipp, 75, of Bastrop, to an ambulance during a 102 degree summer day outside Austin Wrench A Part in Del Valle on July 7, 2023. According to the EMS crew and Shipp, he was seen passing out while searching for car parts under the hot sun, and hadn’t eaten any food or drank any water all day.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
How Texas polluters classify big facilities as smaller ones to avoid stricter environmental rules and public input
Industrial developers describe large facilities as “minor” polluters to avoid federal permitting requirements, and environmental lawyers say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lets it happen. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6757caedc0859b997d2e541dea1d23a8/Major Minor DB TT 06.jpg)
![The GAF roofing shingles factory in West Dallas on Dec. 13. The factory reclassified itself as minor and averted public participation requirements in 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber/Inside Climate News -
Worried about safety, a small West Texas town challenges planned cross-border pipeline
Critics are calling on federal regulators to increase their scrutiny and oversight of the proposed pipeline, which would send gas from Texas to the Mexican coast for export to other countries. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/dece57c56510b938533a2f572cf4dfa0/1129 Saguaro Pipeline MP 09.jpg)
![The skyline of Van Horn, Texas, where residents are raising concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline.]()
Credit: Martha Pskowski/Inside Climate News -
Bison return to Texas Indigenous lands, reconnecting tribes to their roots
Indigenous ranchers in Texas are receiving help from nonprofits to rebuild bison herds in the state. One family in Sulphur Springs that received five bison last month invited Texas tribal members to see the herd in person. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/423782702dadd2c06c0cdfed21a25b08/1104 Bison Return DR TT 20.JPG)
![People, including tribe members, gather in a circle during a blessing ceremony for the three herds of bison gifted to Theda Pogue, affiliated with the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma, and her family on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at GP Ranch in Sulphur Springs, Texas.]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Fear and worry shadow Texas oyster fishermen as another season begins with few reefs open
Despite fishermen’s wishes to delay the season in hopes that oyster reefs recover from years of environmental stress, the state pushed ahead with a Nov. 1 start. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a3db262c031828b281a31b4053b295f1/1101 Oyster Season EG TT 67.jpg)
![Manuel Perez watches as neighboring oyster boats maneuver around the harvesting zone in Galveston Bay, outside of Texas City, on the first day of the oyster harvesting season, on Nov. 1, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Former oil executive withdraws application to build private dam on South Llano River
The withdrawn proposal would have allowed the dam’s owner to take nearly 4 million gallons from the South Llano River, the main water source for Kimble, Mason and Llano counties. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b936f15852bd2fee75770b52b3e44036/1017 Llano River Dam EH TT 23.jpg)
![A golf course borders Cedar Creek, a tributary of the South Llano River, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, in Junction.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Llano River communities fight former oil executive’s plan for a private dam
Texas has thousands of private dams, but a former oil executive’s application to build one on the South Llano River would be the first in the watershed for recreational use. Opponents fear it would harm the river’s health and encourage more private dams. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5948219e9bf468093f8be0b2323b148f/1017 Llano River Dam EH TT 08.jpg)
![Linda Fawcett stands in front of her painting “Water Witch,” in her dining room Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Junction. Named after the moniker used to describe a person who used dowsing rods to search for water underground, the painting depicts Fawcett’s biggest fear of the Llano River going dry.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f3fdae92a7320d62e6beedae35e87207/Industrial%20Corpus%20MGO%20TT%2003.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/978e916bb325c8e3a621c2475a91a6be/1216%20Heat%20Deaths%20Freeport%20EG%20TT%2019.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f73c47f1a2c12bf6fc2f4c5d867a2dd0/0710%20EMS%20Heat%20Ridealong%20JT%20TT%2006.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6757caedc0859b997d2e541dea1d23a8/Major%20Minor%20DB%20TT%2006.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/dece57c56510b938533a2f572cf4dfa0/1129%20Saguaro%20Pipeline%20MP%2009.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/423782702dadd2c06c0cdfed21a25b08/1104%20Bison%20Return%20DR%20TT%2020.JPG)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a3db262c031828b281a31b4053b295f1/1101%20Oyster%20Season%20EG%20TT%2067.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b936f15852bd2fee75770b52b3e44036/1017%20Llano%20River%20Dam%20EH%20TT%2023.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5948219e9bf468093f8be0b2323b148f/1017%20Llano%20River%20Dam%20EH%20TT%2008.jpg)