We want to begin the Texas Environmental Almanac by telling you what it is not. It is not a prescription for change. It is not a definitive description of the environmental health of the state. It is an environmental road map of our state, drawn from a wide array of sources, including state and federal agencies, publications of nationally renowned environmental organizations, scientific articles, legislative bills and legal statutes, and books offering historical overviews and critiques of environmental issues. By studying this road map, we can begin to understand where we are in terms of our state's environmental health. We can begin to decide where we want to be in terms of the future environmental well-being of Texas.

This almanac was created to provide timely information on the state of the state's environment. This information can help citizens and their elected officials plan for the future and design future policy. While various state and federal agencies maintain ongoing documentation of key components of the state's environment, this documentation rarely reaches the public or elected officials in a format that is useful for public debate or for guiding public policy decisions. Before the first edition of Texas Environmental Almanac was published in 1995, environmental documentation by various state and federal agencies had never before been brought together under one cover to provide a comprehensive look at the Texas environment.

This second edition of the almanac is expanded in scope. It draws on the most recent data available to update and broaden the portrait provided in the first edition. It is our hope that the almanac will serve as a useful reference book for anyone studying the Texas environment, as well as for those engaged in public debates shaping environmental policy.

Environmental protection continues to be a major concern of most Texans, according to a 1996 survey conducted by the Rice University Department of Sociology. "The data clearly indicate that generalized concerns about environmental pollution have increased substantially in Texas during the past two years," said Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg, director of the biannual Texas Environmental Survey. "The respondents in the latest survey were also consistently more likely than in 1994 to be concerned about air and water pollution, about the management of hazardous wastes and exposure to dangerous substances, both in their communities and in the state of Texas."i

A study released by the Institute for Southern Studies indicates that environmental protection and economic development are not necessarily as incompatible as conventional wisdom would have us believe. In fact, some elements of an environmental protection policy may enhance economic development. "States with stronger environmental standards tended to have higher growth in their gross state products, total employment, construction employment, and labor productivity than states that ranked lower environmentally," reported Dr. Stephen Meyer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after tracking twenty years of economic performance by state.ii In a report for the Economic Policy Institute, Dr. Eban Goodstein reports that "when the job creation aspects of pollution control policies are factored in, environmental protection has probably increased net employment in the U.S. economy by a small amount."iii

In the long run, the economic health of a city, a region, or an entire state depends upon the integrity of the natural resources upon which that city, region, or state depends. Looking at some of the information in this almanac allows us to see how this plays out in our own state. We are, for instance, doing some things right. Since 1972, the amount of pollution discharged in wastewater by Texas municipal facilities has decreased by approximately 70 percent. While the population of Texas grew from 14 million in 1980 to 19 million in 1995, the amount of water Texas residents, industries, and agriculture consumed declined from 17.8 million acre-feet in 1980 to 16.8 million acre-feet by 1996. Texas industries have reduced their release of toxic compounds into the air by nearly 42 percent since 1987.

But the evidence suggests we could do a better job in many areas. Texas industries, for instance, inject more hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals underground than those of any other state in the nation. Texas industries release more toxic waste into the air, water, and land combined than any other state. Texas industries generate more hazardous waste than any other state. More than 30 percent of our river and stream miles do not comply with set water-quality standards. More than half of Texas's population lives in areas that do not meet federal clean air standards for ozone. An estimated 27,000 acres of Gulf shoreline were lost to erosion between the mid-1800s and 1982. Gulf shoreline erosion continues at a pace of approximately 225 acres per year. Since European settlement, Texas has lost 63 percent of its original bottomland hardwood and forested wetlands. Texas has more cropland than any other state--28 million acres--and leads all other states in total wind and water erosion of cropland. Between 1982 and 1992, Texas also lost more high-quality farmland to urban development than any other state. In this century, Texas has seen a dramatic increase in the extinction of native species. Currently, Texas ranks sixth among the states for federally listed endangered and threatened species.

Environmental losses such as these, if not addressed, could have a seriously detrimental effect in years to come on the quality of life and the economic prosperity of thousands of Texans. By using information found in the almanac, we may be able to avert growing environmental problems before it is too late.

The almanac is divided into five sections. In these sections we consider the classic environmental elements once believed to characterize all material substance: earth (land), air, fire (energy), and water. To this we have added a new element: waste. Taken as a whole, these sections provide a comprehensive portrait of the state of the state's environment.