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Texas Tribune Report (Rhetorical Appeals (Ethos (Situated- Kiah Collier is…
Texas Tribune Report
Rhetorical Appeals
Pathos
Collier wants the reader to feel angry and understand the urgency behind this issue. She also included a statement from the director of Environment Texas "All Texas waterways should be clean for swimming, drinking water, and wildlife" in order to play on the reader's values.
Logos
This report is filled to the brim with statistics that expose Texas industrial plants' continues disregard for our environment. It also includes that every oil/gas company she reached out to for comment declined. The culmination of these allows for the reader to reach their own conclusion while still being framed by the narrative Collier created.
Ethos
Situated- Kiah Collier is an accredited journalist from central Texas with advanced degrees in both philosophy and multimedia journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She has gotten many awards for her work on city, state, and national levels- most notably a Peabody Award in 2017.
Invented- Collier demonstrates goodwill in the report by highlighting the missteps by both the EPA and the various oil/gas companies and calling for actions to be made.
Major Statistics
"The number of excess releases totaled 8,100 during that period, according to the study, and Texas’ 269 major industrial facilities accounted for 938 of them — the most of any state by far. Pennsylvania came in second with 633."
"Texas also ranks among the top 10 for industrial facilities with the most extreme violations — six of the state's facilities exceeded their permit limits by more than 500 percent at least once. Texas industrial facilities also released the third-highest amount of pollution into waters that were already considered “impaired” by either state or federal standards, meaning they were already too polluted to meet their intended purpose — whether that’s drinking water, ecological or recreational."
"Each year from 2011 to 2017, an average of 27,849 facilities were non-compliant across the U.S., while an average of 13,076 – less than half – faced any EPA or state enforcement action"
Rhetors
The Texas Tribune, the news source and origin of the report
Kiah Collier, author of the report
Readers, potential Texan who is impacted or outside interest analyzing pollution statistics.
Kairos
This report is based off a 21 month study period conducted across the US. Out of all 50 states, Texas was responsible for nearly 12% of all violations- more than any other state. Additionally, the study found that less than half of the offending industrial plants face any repercussions. These factors led to Kiah Collier to bring this issue to light in a Texas Tribune report.
Stakeholders
Interest group, Environment Texas
Environment Texas is a branch of Environment America, a citizen based environmental advocacy group.
Texas A&M
Texas A&M is a major research university for environmental impact, yet they illegally discharged dangerously high levels of E. Coli into the Brazos River dozens of times.
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Non-Profit Organization, Frontier Group
This NPO is dedicated to educating Americans on policy issues in the US and conducting independent studies in various fields.
Major oil companies- Exxon, Shell, Chevron
Oil and gas companies in Texas have been polluting our waterways more than they do in any other state by a considerable amount, yet have faced minimal fines or punishments.
People who live in Texas
Anyone in Texas has a personally stake in the problems this report identifies because they have a direct impact on them.
Texts
The Clean Water Act of 2017 is mentioned repeatedly in the report, often as a point of reference for environmental policies/regulation. The inclusion of this text helps promote the purpose of the report and allow the reader to better understand it.
"The study concludes that "weak and delayed enforcement of the Clean Water Act is common across the country," with a majority of violations going unpunished. "
Structures/Style
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The style of this Texas Tribune report is very informative and easily to understand for a reader. It is written in a professional and knowledgeable manner.
Dispositions
Kiah Collier is a reporter/editor for the Texas Tribune who has a focus in energy and the environment and has written articles in the past that expose the wrongdoings of oil/gas corporations.
Major oil companies are determined to protect their interests (profits, products, etc.) and disregard any of their mistakes unless there's heavy public scrutiny.
Shell and Chevron Phillips also did not respond to requests for comment. ExxonMobil declined to comment.
Texas A&M is an advocate for improving our environment, but they don't always abide by the rules they expect others to uphold.
"Texas A&M University, for example, discharged illegal levels of e. Coli into the Brazos River from a wastewater treatment plant on its main College Station campus a dozen times during the study period, and three releases were more than five times the maximum allowable amount under the law"
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The two interest groups/npos are both focused on conducting independent studies to develop a deeper understanding of how we impact our environment.
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