A major overhaul to oil and gas drilling rules is under way at the Texas Railroad Commission. The initiative has received a cautious welcome from both environmentalists and some industry groups.

The board of the Dallas-based utility company Oncor recently authorized a $17 million payment to its chairman and chief executive, Robert Shapard, according to an SEC filing on Nov. 21, the day before Thanksgiving.

Millions of "smart" electricity meters have been installed in homes, but now some Texans say the program should be optional. And some lawmakers are listening.

Despite its “Keep Austin Weird” slogan and passion for clean energy, Austin is increasingly attracting oil and gas companies thanks to its entrepreneurial bent and reputation as a fun place to live.

Wholesale electricity prices on the Texas power grid will be allowed to go twice as high as is currently possible, following a vote Thursday by the Texas Public Utility Commission. What this move means for Texans' electric bills is unclear.

Bryan Shaw, the TCEQ chairman, told an Austin conference he has already had two "productive" calls with Ron Curry, the new regional head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The two plan to meet within about a month, Shaw said.

A Texas Senate committee heard sometimes emotional testimony Tuesday about smart-meter installations, as opponents of the installation argued that their rights had been violated and the meters carried health risks.

Most Texans are used to weather-related power outages, but they're probably not aware of the danger they pose to the state's massive petrochemical plants, which at times must send thousands of pounds of chemical vapors into the air.

Ron Curry, a former New Mexico environmental regulator, will become the new Dallas-based regional head of the Environmental Protection Agency. He replaces Al Armendariz, who resigned after a firestorm this spring.

Environmental groups have long raised concerns about the health dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But a new report questions one aspect of fracking that rarely comes under scrutiny: its supposed economic benefit.

Texas is the top wind power state, but the expiration of a key tax credit at the end of this year could significantly impact the state, which contains about a fifth of the nation’s turbines.

Environmental groups filed a petition on Wednesday accusing the state's Public Utility Commission of failing to meet renewable energy targets and thus depriving the state of more solar and geothermal power.

Oil may dominate in Texas, but coal is still king in some small towns. That's why talk of stricter air pollution regulations in towns like Jewett — where the economy is already stagnant — puts some residents on edge. 

With temperatures projected to soar during the final days of August, the state of the Texas electric grid will once again be on policymakers’ minds — though some reliability concerns may be eased since a federal court struck down an EPA rule that could have affected coal plants.

A Texas farmer's battle to keep the Keystone XL oil pipeline off her property is only the most visible of what some legal experts describe as a rising tide of property-rights cases across Texas.

Starting last year, federal regulators began urging pipeline operators to replace aging systems. Nowhere may that be more critical than in Texas, which is experiencing a major change in how crude oil is flowing up and down the state.

Texas lags in solar-power development, and lawmakers have been reluctant to promote it with incentives. Nonetheless, solar power can play a role in aiding Texas’ strained electric grid, industry officials and regulators said at a meeting in San Antonio.

UPDATED: Al Armendariz, a former EPA regional administrator, said a court's ruling overturning the EPA's cross-state pollution rule "only delays the inevitable." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott called the ruling a "victory for federalism."