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Houston Matters

How Oil & Gas Drilling is Allowed On Texas Wetlands Mitigation Banks

The federal government says wetlands are so important to our environment that there can be no net loss. So when developers or agencies build something on a wetland, they can purchase credits from a wetlands mitigation bank to offset the loss. The bank then preserves the wetlands in perpetuity. However, a high-profile Texan has taken […]

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The federal government says wetlands are so important to our environment that there can be no net loss. So when developers or agencies build something on a wetland, they can purchase credits from a wetlands mitigation bank to offset the loss. The bank then preserves the wetlands in perpetuity.

However, a high-profile Texan has taken land earmarked as a wetlands preserve and found a way to legally extract natural gas from it.

We learn more from Houston Chronicle investigative team and public radio show Reveal producer Peter Haden. (Houston Chronicle journalists Jim Drew and Susan Carroll first reported this story for the newspaper.)

MORE: Oil & Gas Drilling Allowed On Wetlands Mitigation Banks In Texas (Houston Chronicle, Sept. 23, 2015)

Michael Hagerty

Michael Hagerty

Senior Producer, Houston Matters

Michael Hagerty is the senior producer for Houston Matters. He's spent more than 20 years in public radio and television and dabbled in minor league baseball, spending four seasons as the public address announcer for the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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