Reporting to You

Susie Byrd and Senator Shapleigh overlook the topping of El Paso's medical school

Susie Byrd and Senator Shapleigh overlook the topping of El Paso's medical school

Accomplishments

The Bowie Model—Los Desaparecidos

Annual Newsletters

Senator Shapleigh keeps you informed with his annual newsletters.

The Asarco Files

Must-read articles and reports on Asarco, a 100-year-old smelter seeking to re-open in El Paso's city center.

Asarco in El Paso -- Updated January 2009

This comprehensive report, compiled by the Office of Senator Eliot Shapleigh, details the history of Asarco in El Paso.

EPA / DOJ / TCEQ public meeting on ASARCO site remediation plan - May 11, 2009

On Monday, May 11, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held a public meeting on the proposed remediation plan for the ASARCO smelter site in El Paso.

You may watch a video of the full hearing by clicking here.

Below are agency presentations made that evening:

- Department of Justice Presentation
- Environmental Protection Agency Presentation
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Presentation

More information on the ASARCO remediation plan may be found at the TCEQ Web site, here.

ASARCO: Remediation and Reuse Challenges

This presentation, first delivered during the "A Day in the Sun: Adios ASARCO, Hello Future," event at UTEP on Feb. 21, 2009, briefly details the next steps for ASARCO and El Paso: complete remediation of the smelter site that allows for develop-ready land.

Click here to watch a video of Senator Shapleigh explaining is opposition to the ASARCO remediation plan at "A Day in the Sun: Adios ASARCO, Hello Future."

“Their Mines, Our Stories”

“Their Mines, Our Stories” is a case study of one corporation in a complex relationship with many communities. What makes the ASARCO story significant is the long arc of its history, the wide reach of its operations, its contentious interactions with citizens, workers and public agencies, its attempts to influence science, its impact on public policy, and its precedent setting chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest and most complex environmental bankruptcy in US history.

ASARCO’s bankruptcy is a disturbing forecast of what corporations can do to escape their responsibilities to the workers and communities they have used and abused. What this case study does is dramatize on a broad canvas how a corporation can occupy a major role in public and community life, and demonstrates the consequences when a company evades responsibility for the communities it has polluted, the workers it has endangered, and the public trust it has violated.

Asarco Open Records

BRAC Enews

Beyond Merida

Building a Vision

The Case for Health Care Reform, Sept 2009

The Crisis in El Paso Health Care Professional Shortages

In light of dramatic expansion at Fort Bliss, Mayor John Cook and the Healthcare Council of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce hosted a legislative discussion focused on health care on Monday, November 17, 2008. The purpose of the discussion was to identify health care issues of importance to the community that could be positively impacted through legislative action, whether that be through an appropriation of additional funding or through a change in statute that would improve a policy.

Documents

"El Paso: The Energy Capitol of Texas"

For nearly a century, Texas has led the nation in hydrocarbon energy production. For the next hundred years, Texas is blessed once again to be able to lead in solar energy. All it takes is political will. In Texas, El Paso is literally the "Sun City"—we are best positioned to develop, market and lead the state in encouraging solar energy. We are ready to make El Paso the Energy Capitol of Texas.

The 2010 Solar Task Force Report

This report contains reccomendations for the El Paso region and the state of Texas. It is the foundation document to help make El Paso the "Solar Energy Capitol" of Texas.

Incentive Design

Photovoltaic Incentive Design Handbook - CleanEnergystates.org



El Paso Fact Book

El Paso Veterans Health Care Study

Five Star Agenda

The Great Flood of 2006

West Nile Virus: Vector Control Storm 2006 Final Report

West Nile Virus has become a concern for El Pasoans as standing water breeds mosquitoes. Find out more about West Nile Virus and what is being done to protect El Paso.

Flood and Disaster Relief Information

This guide is a community service of KFOX-TV and the El Paso Bar Association. It includes important information on disaster assistance and recovery.

Immigration

Borderlands: Lifting the Lamp Beside Texas' Door (2007)

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of Immigration in Texas for the 2007-2009 Biennium

Major Cities Chiefs: M.C.C. Immigration Committee Recommendations

It is important for M.C.C. as a leader and representative of the local law enforcement community develop consensus on this subject. The purpose of this statement is to address the impact and consequences of local enforcement of federal immigration laws

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Decision (Judge Munley, July 26, 2007)

On July 26, 2007, a federal judge struck down the Hazleton anti-immigrant ordinance. In his 206-page opinion, Judge James Munely said, "Whatever frustrations officials of the City of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the political system in the United States prohibits the City from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme. Even if federal law did not conflict with Hazleton's measures, the City could not enact an ordinance that violates rights the Constitution guarantees to every person in the United States, whether legal resident or not." A copy of the opinion can be found below. (749k PDF).

Accountability, Community Security and Infrastructure on the U.S.-Mexico Border - Policy Priorities fir 2009-2010--U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force, April 2009, Washington, D.C.

The U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force is comprised of over 50 individuals and organizations spanning 4 states and comprised of local elected officials, law enforcement, faith leaders, business, labor, academics and community advocates. The diversity of the coalition finds its strength in the notion that that people from very different perspectives can agree when assumptions about “enforcement” are challenged. The Border Task Force has repeatedly demonstrated over the course of many years that broad support exists for immigration reform and border security that is smart, accountable, and fiscally responsible.

Invest in the American Dream

Juarez Drug War

President Barack Obama's Health Care Reform

Obama: 'We will provide you with a choice'

Sept. 9: Addressing a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama calls for action on health care reform. "Our collective failure to meet this challenge ... has led us to a breaking point," said President Obama.

Rail in the Pass

Rail in the Pass PowerPoint presentation

Senator Shapleigh presented "Rail in the Pass" before the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization on November 14, 2008.

Click here to watch that video

School Finance

Are you a Robin Hood District?

State government is all about education! In this special section, we are covering key school and school finance issues in a 10 part series on "21st Century Educational Excellence Fund."

School Finance Presentation

Our kids are the future. This is the School Finance PowerPoint presentation that Senator Shapleigh travels across the state presenting.

Session In Review

81st Legislative Session in Review

I am proud to share with you this account of the 81st Legislative Session representing the people of El Paso as your Texas State Senator.

80th Legislative Session in Review

I am proud to share with you this account of the 80th Legislative Session representing the people of El Paso as your Texas State Senator. With the El Paso's legislative delegation, we fought to win approval of a $40 million research tower, $3 million for development and planning, and $600,000 for Texas Tech's El Paso Diabetes Research Center.

Subprime and Predatory Lending

Texas Borderlands: Frontier of the Future (2007)

This is an electronic library of the 4th edition of the "Texas Borderlands: Frontier of the Future" report. The report chronicles the opportunities and challenges faced on the Texas-Mexico Border, and covers topics ranging from infrastructure to health and human services, to public and higher education, to homeland security.

Texas Borderlands: Frontier of the Future (2009)

This is an electronic library of the 5th edition of the "Texas Borderlands: Frontier of the Future" report. The report chronicles the opportunities and challenges faced on the Texas-Mexico Border, and covers topics ranging from infrastructure to health and human services, to public and higher education, to homeland security.

Click here to download the full report, or click on the link above to see an index of chapters.

Texas on the Brink: How Texas Ranks Among the 50 States

Without the courage to invest in the minds of our children, and steadfast support for great schools, we face a daunting prospect. Those who value tax cuts over children and budget cuts over college have put Texas at risk in her ability to compete and succeed.

Texas Taxes

Making Texas Competitive: Texas Tax Reform Commission

The Texas tax system needs to change. Our tax system fails the people of Texas in two ways: (1) Texas taxes are not equitable, and (2) The current tax system does not provide enough money to meet Texans' basic needs. Taxes are needed to fund essential public services.

UTEP/IPED Asarco Study (August 2007)

Valuing the Paso Del Norte: Resident and Business Perspectives on the Value of the Environment Relative to Reopening the ASARCO Copper Smelter (IPED Technical Report No. 2007-08).

UTEP Masters in Education Counseling Program

UTEP 2015

Nearly all UT System Border universities present a challenge, but none more so than UTEP. As such, it presents the essential challenge on how to reform higher education, provide essential accountability, produce a quality undergraduate education, and finance a student population with fewer financial resources than almost any in the United States.