PLACEDO — Last Thursday, Tanya Enriquez watched as a week’s worth of rain turned her yard into a small pond. Along with a half dozen neighbors, Enriquez lives in small valley sandwiched between the railroad tracks behind her and U.S. 87 in front. It doesn’t take much rain to fill her yard wi…

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved fines at its Wednesday meeting for environmental violations at local facilities, including an oil and gas operation in Lavaca County and two wastewater treatment plants in Victoria County.

PORT O’CONNOR — As 16 kids in kayaks clustered together in the shallows, RJ Shelly pointed toward a sandpiper wandering the shores of Boggy Bayou.

POINT COMFORT — The Calhoun Port Authority entered into a binding agreement with Max Midstream Texas on Wednesday for funding of the Matagorda Ship Channel expansion project.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will hold a virtual public meeting in August on an air permit Max Midstream Texas is seeking for expansion of its Seahawk terminal at the Calhoun Port Authority.

A $110,000 grant was recently awarded to researchers for an independent review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plans to widen and deepen the Matagorda Ship Channel — a project that has triggered environmental and economic concerns among many local residents.

EDNA — Friday marked the third time this year Terrilyn Turner and her husband woke up to 3-4 inches of water in their home.

SEADRIFT — A heavy rain event in May turned Jim Nephew’s property on the west side of town into a retention pond.

Cuero didn’t run out of water during the freeze in February, but it came close.

Victoria County Commissioners Court will hold a public hearing on Aug. 2 to address Zinc Resources’ request for a tax abatement on the company’s proposed hazardous waste management facility at the Port of Victoria.

The Victoria County Commissioners Court will receive Zinc Resources’ application for a tax abatement on their proposed Port of Victoria hazardous waste facility Monday.

PORT LAVACA — Twenty-five students from throughout the Crossroads stood on the deck of the Texas Floating Classroom Friday afternoon and scanned Matagorda Bay.

Alligators who call the Crossroads home have enjoyed the copious amounts of rain that fell across the region in the last month.

Victoria County Commissioners Court voted Monday to establish a 700-acre area at the Port of Victoria as a reinvestment zone, allowing for possible future tax abatements in the area, despite concerns raised by several residents.

PORT LAVACA — The sun beat down on the harbor next to Miller’s Seafood on a recent afternoon as Curtis Miller watched a crew fill an oyster lugger to the brim with his oyster shells.

The Calhoun Port Authority opened three bids Wednesday for the pre-dredging sampling and analysis required to widen and deepen the Matagorda Ship Channel.

Officials at the Port of Victoria are moving forward with plans to bring a hazardous waste facility to town after an independent environmental consultant found the facility is likely to comply with environmental regulations.

A sprawling mound of trash lies next to a compactor at the city of Victoria’s recycling center Thursday. Flies hover above it. In the pile are recyclables like cardboard and plastic bottles, but there’s also an overwhelming amount of nonrecyclable items — plastic foam, a carpet, a hose, mult…

A Seadrift environmental activist bonded out of jail Thursday after she was arrested during a demonstration against the scheduled dredging of Matagorda Bay.

An air quality analyst said a proposed hazardous waste facility at the Port of Victoria appears likely to meet state regulatory standards at a public meeting Thursday.

The Texas Zoo has entered a new era as its new board members work to bring back live events.

Twenty Victoria County residents have filed comments with the state on the EAF dust recycling facility Zinc Resources wants to build at the Port of Victoria. The vast majority of those residents don’t want to see the project move forward.

King Fisher Beach could soon have more room to relax and play on as the result of a grant the Texas General Land Office allocated to Calhoun County.

Concerned Victoria County residents spoke out against the proposed Zinc Resources hazardous waste facility at Monday’s Commissioners Court meeting.

POINT COMFORT — More than a dozen environmental activists in kayaks kicked off from the shoreline and into Lavaca Bay Sunday morning as part of a demonstration against oil exports and plans to deepen and widen the Matagorda Ship Channel.

Two pairs of endangered whooping cranes were found nesting in southeast Texas for the first time in recent history.

A grassy knoll rises abruptly from the flat stretch of farmland southeast of Victoria. Visually, there’s nothing to suggest that hidden beneath the green swell is all the city’s trash since the landfill opened in the 1980s.

ROCKPORT — Andrew Oliver false cast back and forth in a rhythmic motion Tuesday morning before his fly hit the water.

REFUGIO — A new solar plant in Refugio County moved one step closer to construction on Tuesday.

A company that recently canceled plans to build an electric-arc, furnace-dust recycling facility in Live Oak County is now looking to build the $55-$60 million facility at the Port of Victoria.

POINT COMFORT—Diane Wilson parked her truck on the side of SH 35 Wednesday morning with a large sign that read “Stop the dredging. Stop the oil export” in black, bold letters.

LA WARD — The crustaceans were met with squirms and excitement.

Nearly 150 volunteers removed 1,203 abandoned crab traps from local bays during the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s annual 10-day cleanup period.

ROCKPORT — Two brown pelicans walked around a kiddie pool last Friday in a large outdoor enclosure at Wings Rescue Center. Another rested inside one of the rehab buildings on the wooded property, where he has been undergoing treatment for frostbite, worms and mites since March 1.