Austin, TX
Tesla found a way to get out of environmental regulations at its Texas gigafactory
- Tesla’s gigafactory outside Austin won’t have to follow the city’s environmental regulations.
- The EV company was granted an exemption thanks to a new state law.
- Elon Musk has said the property will be an “ecological paradise,” but Tesla has a history of violating the environment.
Tesla’s massive gigafactory outside Austin, Texas will no longer have to follow local environmental regulations, thanks to a recent state law.
Tesla’s 2,500-acre property, which includes its 10-million-square-foot electric vehicle gigafactory, is in unincorporated land on the outskirts of Austin.
Despite not being directly in the city, most of that land was still part of Austin’s “extraterritorial jurisdiction” (ETJ), which allowed the city to regulate developments outside its limits.
In February, Tesla applied for an exemption from Austin’s ETJ, which the city’s Planning Department approved in March.
The exemption was first reported by the Austin Business Journal this week.
The exemption was possible thanks to a new state law that went into effect in September and allows landowners to request to be removed from jurisdictions so that they can develop land with fewer regulations.
Several cities in the state have already sued to block the law, including Grand Prairie, which argued in a filing that the law will hurt the city’s ability to protect the health, safety, and welfare of those who live in and around its borders.
But under the law, cities don’t have much leeway to deny a landowner’s request, Austin’s director of planning previously said, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Tesla’s ETJ exemption will enable the electric vehicle company to further develop its land without having to follow the city’s environmental restrictions, which an Austin city spokesperson acknowledged could harm locals.
“Releasing properties from the ETJ impacts the City because development in the ETJ is subject to limited subdivision regulation as well as regulation of water quality and flooding issues,” Shelley Parks, an Austin city spokesperson, said in a statement to Business Insider. “All affect people in both the ETJ and the City itself.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
When the Texas gigafactory was still under construction before its 2022 opening, Elon Musk promised it would be an “ecological paradise” with walking trails for the public along the neighboring Colorado River.
Musk’s companies have had issues with environmental regulations in the past, however. In February, Tesla settled a lawsuit accusing them of mishandling hazardous waste in California. Meanwhile, the Boring Company has been accused of letting untreated wastewater drain into the Colorado River.
Austin, TX
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Austin, TX
Austin, Texas, opioid outbreak leaves at least 9 dead, 75 overdoses in 3 days – Washington Examiner
(The Center Square) – Over the last few days, city and county officials are responding to what appears to be “the largest opioid overdose outbreak” in Austin and Travis County, Travis County Judge Andy Brown said at a news conference.
Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Eric Fitzgerald said police officers and emergency personnel reduced an untold number of deaths, saying, “there is a deadly batch of illicit narcotics in our community. Our intent … is to find those persons responsible and hold them accountable.”
Lt. Patrick Eastlick with the APD’s narcotics unit said two persons of interest were detained and one was arrested for felony possession of a firearm. An investigation is ongoing into the source of where the drugs came from. “Anyone found responsible for distributing the suspected fentanyl faces potential charges of murder or manufactured delivery of controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury,” he said.
Last year, the Texas legislature passed a bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law changing state law to classify fentanyl poisoning as murder, require death certificates to state cause of death related to fentanyl poisonings, expand distribution of Narcan, among other measures.
So far, the APD has filed five charges related to fentanyl overdose deaths, Eastlick said.
Austin-Travis County EMS Assistant Chief Steve White said emergency personnel initially responded to calls in the downtown area Monday morning, which later spread throughout the city. Emergency teams were deployed to quickly distribute Narcan rescue kits.
Within a 24-hour period, they responded to over 51 suspected overdoses with many individuals in cardiac arrest. Four people were first reported dead.
“We have not experienced overdoses of this volume since 2015, when K2 struck our community,” White said, referring to synthetic marijuana. EMS usually gets an average of two to three calls a day, but responded to over 50 calls after the outbreak began, “well over a thousand percent increase.”
In a separate press announcement, Dr. Angela Carr with Travis County EMS said as of 6 pm on Thursday, Austin Travis County EMS had responded to 75 suspected overdoses. So far, more than 400 doses of Narcan have been distributed to affected areas.
Brown said they had to wait until the toxicology reports were completed but they were investigating “eight deaths as suspicious.”
The current death total is nine, according to a county spokesperson. “Preliminary toxicology reports indicated the presence of fentanyl in nine cases, cocaine in eight and methamphetamine in three, the American-Statesman reported.
Brown said emergency personnel saved dozens of lives by administering Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses if administered quickly enough. Information about where Texans can obtain Narcan can be found here and at Txcope.org.
“Drug overdose deaths continue to be the number one cause of non-accidental deaths in Travis County,” Brown said. In 2022, Travis County commissioners declared the county’s overdose epidemic as a public health crisis.
In March, White spoke at an Austin City Council meeting on public safety saying, “Travis County now has twice as many opiate overdose deaths than any other county in Texas, per capita.” He explained the scope of the “severe increase” in opioid overdoses, saying they averaged roughly 100 a month at the time.
Last year, while the legislature was in session, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers seized half a million lethal doses of fentanyl in Austin, The Center Square reported. They also seized other narcotics, weapons, ammunition, and several stolen vehicles in a bust that was part of a DPS Austin Violent Crimes Task Force operation assisting the APD.
Violent crime and fentanyl overdoses have increased in the state capital since the Austin City Council voted to defund the APD in 2020. Efforts by voters to increase APD funding and reverse the city council’s actions failed in 2021. After losing a significant number of APD’s force, the number of homicides in Austin spiked, APD was no longer able to respond quickly to 911 calls, street takeovers got out of control, a machete crime spree ensued among other violent crimes being reported.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In response, Gov. Abbott took action, creating task forces and surging additional resources, including directing DPS troopers to provide long-term assistance to APD. He also worked with the Texas legislature to implement measures to prevent municipalities from defunding the police in the future, The Center Square reported.
“Overdose deaths are completely preventable and everyone in Travis County should be aware and prepared to respond to an overdose incident,” Brown said. “Everyone should carry Narcan and know how to respond to an overdose. I carry a dose of it in my computer bag.”
Austin, TX
Texas elections 2024: Austin residents vote on 'dis-annexation' of neighborhoods
AUSTIN, Texas – “Vote Here” signs are spread across the city of Austin at dozens of polling centers.
Inside, multiple candidates and propositions are on the ballot for voters to choose from.
There are six “dis-annexation” propositions, allowing residents of several outlying areas to vote on whether to remove themselves from Austin city limits.
The major selling point for these propositions is that they will lower property taxes.
“Oh, I’m for sure voting against,” said Malone resident Dave Kemper.
“We voted yes for the dis-annexation, mainly because we want to see the property taxes go down,” said Lost Creek resident Joe Wempe.
The city would phase out property taxes once a neighborhood’s debt is paid.
Residents would still pay school property taxes.
The ballot measures were prompted by legislation passed in the Texas legislature in 2023.
Each of the neighborhoods was brought into the city boundary about 10 years ago.
“We are our own little community, and I think that’s how we should be treated,” said Lost Creek resident, Rachel Cole.
Austin Police and Fire Departments would no longer serve “dis-annexed” neighborhoods.
Instead, Travis County would handle law enforcement and fire response. Some services would discontinue,like trash from Austin resource recovery.
“I mean, not to disparage the county, but it’s not broken. So why would we fix it? Like, the city has done a great job with our trash,” Kemper said.
2024 TEXAS RUNOFF ELECTIONS COVERAGE
The possibility of dis-annexation comes with concerns surrounding emergency services for some residents.
“As a mom of three kids, I want the best emergency response that I can get. So, if I call 911, I want a quick response,” said Cole.
Others welcome the thought of a possible change.
“Maybe we have better police control here, because we have seen more crime in the area,” said Lost Creek resident Donna Wempe.
The residents were able to take their decision to the polls, with the final votes cast on Saturday.
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