TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalRepublicans could force Keystone XL approval with must-pass debt bill
House Republicans on Wednesday said they will use a must-pass debt bill to push for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and tackle other energy issues.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said Congress has until mid-October to boost the nation’s borrowing limit above $16.7 trillion, lest the nation begin defaulting on its bills.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Republicans would soon unveil a debt ceiling bill that contains language addressing Keystone XL and provisions to delay Obamacare.
“We will unveil a plan to extend our nation’s ability to borrow while delaying Obamacare and protecting working middle class families from its horrific effects,” Cantor said. “Those discussions will also focus on a path forward on tax reform and the Keystone pipeline and a variety of other measures designed to lower energy prices, simplify our tax system and get our economy going for the middle-class working people of this country.”
More at http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/09/18/republicans-could-use-must-pass-debt-bill-to-force-keystone-xl-approval/ .
Eagle Ford’s future might lie in Mexico’s demand
The Eagle Ford Shale is an oil-producing machine. But the field and its operators could ultimately cross the border into Mexico or become — as it started back with the first wells in 2008 and 2009 — a big source of natural gas.
Scott Sheffield, chairman and CEO of Irving-based Pioneer Natural Resources, said he expects the field to cross the 1 million barrel per day production point any month now.
“The Eagle Ford has been the fastest rise,” said Sheffield, who spoke Thursday at Hart Energy’s DUG Eagle Ford Conference at the Convention Center. “It could be the fastest growth field to ever hit 1 million barrels in U.S. history, basically in about a four-year time frame.”
But while South Texas is well established as a top U.S. onshore field, for the long term, Pioneer and other Eagle Ford operators are watching for potential opportunities in Mexico, where President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a proposal last month to allow some direct foreign investment in projects of Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
More at http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/09/20/eagle-fords-future-might-lie-in-mexicos-demand/?cmpid=businesshcat .
Ending Obamacare? What Republicans really want is the Senate
WASHINGTON – House Republicans hope their vote today to defund the Affordable Care Act sticks. But it also had another goal: Republican control of the Senate in 2014.
“We are under the realistic assumption that if the Senate, if they held the vote, would have to live with the consequences,” said Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, a member of House GOP leadership. “We anticipate this would give an opening next year in the election cycle.”
Sessions would know. When he chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee, he deployed a similar tactic to remove House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi from her spot as Speaker of the House.
“To make long term changes, you have to win the Senate,” Sessions said.
More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/ending-obamacare-what-republicans-really-want-is-the-senate.html/ .
Gov. Bobby Jindal calls legal challenge to school vouchers 'immoral'
WASHINGTON — Gov. Bobby Jindal called on the Justice Department on Wednesday to give up its “cynical, immoral and hypocritical” challenge to Louisiana’s school voucher program.
“It’s simply immoral to tell these children they’ve got to stay in failing schools,” Jindal, a Republican, said at a press conference at the National Press Club.
The Justice Department filed a motion in August to stop the state from issuing vouchers, without federal approval, to students in school districts that are under desegregation orders. The change would take effect in the 2014-15 school year.
Justice officials said they’re not trying to end the voucher program.
The department “seeks a straightforward goal — to ensure that the state of Louisiana implements its school voucher program in a manner that complies with the U.S. Constitution and long-standing federal desegregation orders,” an agency spokesman said.
More at http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20130919/NEWS0401/309190010/Gov-Bobby-Jindal-calls-legal-challenge-school-vouchers-immoral-?nclick_check=1 .
Lax chlorine standards likely contributed to brain-eating amoeba in St. Bernard water
The administrator who oversees safe drinking water for Louisiana said St. Bernard Parish’s water supply has not been under any recent state enforcement orders prompted by low chlorine levels, because the parish’s water has tested positive for traceable amounts of disinfectants over the last several years.
Those tests, however, did not seek a deadly brain-eating amoeba found at four sites in St. Bernard this month, which killed a 28-year-old man in Arabi in 2011 and a 4-year-old boy in Violet last month. And officials said they found no chlorine at all at four sites earlier this month that tested positive for the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri.
If sites in the parish water supply test positive for any chlorine levels at all – anything above zero chlorine in the water – then the would not come under state or federal enforcement, according to Jake Causey, the state Department of Health and Hospitals administrator who oversees the state’s safe drinking water.
Monthly testing in St. Bernard’s water had always detected at least some minimal chlorine levels in recent years, according to DHH and parish documents. But chlorine at certain sites at times dip below 0.5 mg/L, with many sites in Arabi, Violet and Yscloskey regularly hovering right around that dangerous threshold.
More at http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2013/09/st_bernard_brain-eating_amoeba.html#incart_river_default .
No warrant worries: Texas’ DPS says it’s safe to apply for voter ID
If you’re confused about voter ID in Texas, you’re not alone.
The Texas Department of Public Safety issues the IDs, and folks there are confused, too.
More than one DPS employee said this week that if you can’t pass a warrant check, you can’t walk in and get a voter ID. If you try, you won’t walk back out.
After a kerfluffle with lawyers and a senator, a DPS spokesman said Thursday that warrant checks won’t apply to election ID certificates, the new free IDs created for voters who haven’t bought a current driver’s license, official state ID, passport or handgun permit.
More at http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/09/19/5177802/no-warrant-worries-texas-dps-says.html?rh=1 .
El Paso Sen. Rodríguez: US needs to investigate all Texas school districts for cheating
In a sign of frustration with the Texas Education Agency, state Sen. José Rodríguez last week requested that the U.S. Department of Education launch an investigation into policies affecting federal accountability standards at all Texas school districts.
Rodríguez, D-El Paso, also asked for a federal review of TEA's policies and procedures to determine why its investigations failed to identify cheating at the El Paso Independent School District three years ago.
An audit report from the State Auditor's Office, released last month, found TEA conducted inadequate investigations into alleged cheating at El Paso's largest school district and did not have procedures in place to identify misconduct elsewhere.
"I'm not satisfied with the response from TEA and that's why I'm continuing to press this issue both at the state and at the federal level, particularly now that we know that this is an issue not just in the El Paso Independent School District and you've got now a number of school districts involved in this," Rodríguez said.
More at http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24127945/rodriguez-asks-department-education-open-statewide-investigation-into .
DeLay may sue Travis County district attorney after court overturns conviction
WASHINGTON — Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, reveling in victory Thursday against Texas prosecutors in a money-laundering case, said his political career is over but he’s eager to return to the courthouse.
If he can find a lawyer “with a backbone,” DeLay said, he’ll considering suing the Travis County
The rest of the story is behind a paywall at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130919-delay-may-sue-travis-county-district-attorney-after-court-overturns-conviction.ece .
More details:
WASHINGTON – Tom DeLay is thrilled that an appeals court threw out his conviction today on political money laundering charges. But after an 8-year ordeal that ended an unusually powerful congressional career, he’s not ready to forgive and forget.
“I cannot take this laying down. For the welfare of the people that serve in the future I can’t just let this go,” he said at the U.S. Capitol, after sharing a closed-door lunch with current Texas Republican lawmakers.
The former House majority leader from Sugar Land is considering suing Travis County if, he said, he can find a lawyer “with a backbone.”
DeLay was at a prayer meeting when his lawyer called with news of the ruling. Gesturing to the copy he held in a manila folder, he said, “It’s scathing. It’s embarrassing to the prosecution and to the judge…. I hope it sends a signal to a lot of people who have been concerned about standing up and running for office.”
Further information at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/tom-delay-exonerated-and-ecstatic.html/ .
Local (Amarillo) whistleblowers in Goodwin Orthodontics (Medicaid) fraud case could get money
A Travis County judge has awarded more than $22,000 in legal fees to an Amarillo law firm that helped expose more than $1 million in Medicaid fraud at a local orthodontics clinic.
Amarillo attorney Phil Russ, who represented three former employees of Goodwin Orthodontics, credited Kristen De Los Santos, Sandy De Los Santos and Lissa Eason with exposing health care fraud at the clinic that led to the federal conviction of Amarillo orthodontist David Goodwin.
“The money needs to go to those women,” Russ said Thursday. “This is an example of how responsible citizens can help save our taxpayer dollars from being drained away from government programs by fraud. It takes a whistleblower who sees it happening to sound the alarm, because fraud is a game of stealth and concealment.”
On Wednesday, a Travis County judge awarded the state of Texas and the three Amarillo women more than $4.2 million in damages against Goodwin and the clinic in a whistleblower lawsuit.
More at http://amarillo.com/news/2013-09-19/local-whistleblowers-goodwin-orthodontics-fraud-case-could-get-money .
Dakotas, Texas and Nevada sue EPA
Source: AP
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Nevada are suing the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging it has failed to determine the states' compliance with a new federal clean air requirement that limits sulfur dioxide emissions.
Attorneys general said in court papers that the states meet the new standard under the Clean Air Act, and that the EPA's inaction "will lengthen and complicate the overall permitting process, or even make permitting impossible."
The states allege the EPA is in violation federal law by missing its deadline to make the required determinations. Their lawsuit was filed last week in federal district court in Bismarck.
"
The states) and the sources they regulate live in great uncertainty," court papers said.
Read more: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2013/sep/19/dakotas-texas-and-nevada-sue-epa/
Our attorney general, Greg Abbott, gets giddy suing the federal government.
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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