| Everything's bigger in Texas, it is true. Texas is the | | | | landfill these poison the earth, and can even get into |
| second biggest state in both size and population, and | | | | the water supply, making recycling a priority. |
| has a reputation as the nation's worst polluter. | | | | One group, the Texas Campaign for the Environment, |
| Grassroots efforts and local government initiatives | | | | engaged in creative protest on the day of the |
| have picked up where state leadership has lacked, | | | | transition, dressing as zombies with old TVs on their |
| and auto recycling and salvage is big business in the | | | | heads and marching slowly through downtown Dallas. |
| Lone Star State. Here's the latest in recycling and | | | | The tactic got news coverage and raised awareness |
| environmental news in Texas. | | | | for their concerns. |
| Gov. Perry Vetoes TV Recycling Bill | | | | Obama EPA Backs Texas Activists |
| Recycling is front page news in Texas at the moment, | | | | Environmental activists in Texas have fought losing |
| with an unexpected and disappointing veto from | | | | battle after losing battle for years against Bush as |
| Republican Governor Rick Perry at the end of the | | | | governor and the Bush EPA. Local efforts, particularly |
| state's biennial legislative session. The bill would have | | | | in curbside and auto salvage recycling, have worked |
| required TV manufacturers to offer recycling services | | | | wonders, but on big pollution, big business has had its |
| for consumers of their products-extended producer | | | | way. With Obama's rise to office, however, things are |
| responsibility, it is called. | | | | starting to change. |
| Next year is an election year and Perry faces a stiff | | | | The state's environmental commission-the Texas |
| primary challenge from the state's popular U.S. Senator | | | | Commission on Environmental Quality (activists stress |
| Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican Party primary; | | | | the "ON" as opposed to a "FOR")-has never rejected |
| he is thought to be shoring up right wing support. | | | | a permit for any polluter. Among the most notorious |
| Democrats have lost every governor's race since | | | | examples of TCEQ lack of due diligence were its |
| 1994. This and other puzzling vetoes are in character, | | | | recent rubber stamping of a copper smelter in El Paso |
| as Perry has a long history of surprising vetoes, | | | | and an approval without hearings of cement producer |
| casting more than any other governor in Texas history. | | | | TXI's newest stack. The EPA has blocked the smelter |
| Recycling Activsts Use Creative Protest Tactics in | | | | and is ordering changes in the permitting process on |
| Texas | | | | threat of stripping the TCEQ of this power. |
| With the digital switchover in television now finally | | | | Longtime activists are feeling redeemed, but it remains |
| accomplished, many environmental activists predict | | | | to be seen how the state authorities will respond. |
| millions of old TV sets are about to hit our landfills all at | | | | Texan anti-federal sentiment could find a way. Gov. |
| once. Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs)-the projection | | | | Perry suggested Texas could consider seceding from |
| technology used in so-called "analog" televisions and | | | | the Union in protest of federal taxation and regulation in |
| computer monitors-contain cadmium, lead and a | | | | April. |
| number of other highly toxic chemicals. Over time in a | | | | |