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Kate Galbraith

Kate Galbraith’s staff photo

Kate Galbraith covered energy and environment for the Tribune from 2010 to 2013. Previously she reported on clean energy for The New York Times from 2008 to 2009, serving as the lead writer for the Times' Green blog. She began her career at The Economist in 2000 and spent 2005 to 2007 in Austin as the magazine's Southwest correspondent. A Nieman fellow in journalism at Harvard University from 2007 to 2008, she has an undergraduate degree in English from Harvard and a master's degree from the London School of Economics. She is co-author of “The Great Texas Wind Rush,” a book about how the oil and gas state won the race to wind power.

Past Contributions

  • Air Splitting

    By Kate Galbraith

    The battle over Texas' environmental regulations came to a head as the Environmental Protection Agency shot down the state's air-pollution permitting regime for large plants. It's the latest episode in a larger cultural and political fracas pitting Texas against Washington — and business against government — that continues to take center stage in the race for governor. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • The Nuclear Option

    By Kate Galbraith

    Seventeen years ago, Texas turned on its last nuclear reactor, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth. In another decade, several more reactors could get built here — if events in Washington go the power companies' way. Full Story 

    Two new reactors, shown at the upper left-hand corner of this artist's rendering, could be added to the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Somervell County.
    Credit: Graphic by Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Company

  • Seeing Green

    By Kate Galbraith

    The Environmental Protection Agency's campaign against Texas' air pollution permitting process is well-known, but federal regulators are also working to tighten a number of other rules relating to power plant waste, ozone and greenhouse gas emissions. Texas businesses fear that the new regulations will dent the state's fragile economic recovery. Environmentalists are, predictably, delighted. Full Story 

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  • Get Smart

    By Kate Galbraith

    Thanks to a 2007 state law and federal stimulus grants, smart-grid projects are proliferating across Texas, allowing customers to monitor their electricity usage and control costs. Some utilities are saving money too. Full Story 

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  • Panhandling for Water

    By Kate Galbraith

    Within Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer accounts for about 40 percent of all water use, but its levels are declining sharply. In a dry growing season, the High Plains Water District recorded an average drop of 1.5 feet. Meanwhile, the 2007 state water plan projects that the Ogallala's volume will fall a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060. Full Story 

    Windmill at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer.
    Credit: panoramio.com

  • Crude Concerns

    By Kate Galbraith

    In the wake of the Gulf spill, anxiety is building about a proposed pipeline that would run through East Texas, ferrying Canadian oil to Port Arthur and Houston for refining. Full Story 

    Pipe sections in Illinois await crews to weld and bury them during construction in 2009. This segment of the $12 billion Keystone pipeline project has already been built; a proposed pipeline through Texas still awaits government permits.
    Credit: Keystone Pipeline System