A failed regular session bill sought to give a financial break to a West Texas nuclear waste disposal company. Now, lawmakers have removed what opponents called a giveaway and are again trying to pass a bill to stop highly radioactive materials from coming to Texas.
Erin Douglas
Erin Douglas was the climate reporter for The Texas Tribune from 2020 through 2023 where she covered the impacts of climate change, including extreme heat, drought and hurricanes. She reported on the toll flooding takes on mental health, investigated a chemical fire at an industrial facility, and covered the collapse of Texas’ power grid that led to widespread blackouts across the state. Her coverage of the Texas blackouts in 2021 was recognized by the Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Erin was previously a business and economy reporter at the Houston Chronicle where she covered labor, energy and the environment. She studied journalism and economics at Colorado State University, and her first newsroom job was interning at The Denver Post, her hometown newspaper.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas Supreme Court temporarily allows school mask mandates to remain
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott wanted the high court to disallow mask mandates in Texas school districts. Justices dismissed their request on a technicality, without issuing a ruling on their legal arguments.
Posted in
Climate Change in Texas
Texas regulators want to prepare the state’s electricity grid for extreme weather. But that’s a moving target in a warming world.
The state plans to use past weather data to craft rules for power plant upgrades. Scientists warn that the accelerating effects of climate change make relying on old data alone insufficient.
Posted in
Climate Change in Texas
San Antonio built a pipeline to rural Central Texas to increase its water supply. Now local landowners say their wells are running dry.
A pipeline helped secure water for San Antonio for decades to come — at a potentially high cost to some rural residents who are losing groundwater to the big city. Is it a preview for the rest of the state as climate change brings more water scarcity and cities keep sprawling?
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Energy
Texas plan to reduce haze in national parks wouldn’t require any new limits on pollution
Federal agencies that manage national parks said Texas overestimated the cost of new emission regulations and failed to address their concerns in its analysis.
Posted in
Economy
Greater disparities to emerge in Texas as unemployment benefits, protections against evictions and utility shutoffs end
The financial safety net for the pandemic will vanish this summer, and there are two very different economic realities for Texans returning to “normal.”
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Economy
Grid operator says Texans can return to regular electricity use
The operator had urged electricity conservation earlier this week as several power generators unexpectedly went offline as temperatures rose this week.
Posted in
Energy
Gov. Greg Abbott makes interim Public Utility Commission appointment
The nomination comes the same week that ERCOT asked Texans to cut back their electricity use to avoid outages. Cobos’ term will last until Sept. 1
Posted in
Energy
Is Texas headed toward another blackout? Did the Legislature fix the power grid? Here are answers to your questions about the grid.
The state’s grid operator indicated that conditions are improving and said that power outages to residents are unlikely.
Posted in
Energy
Another Texas power outage “appears unlikely” this week, but severe weather this summer could prompt an electricity crisis
The state’s grid operator included extreme weather scenarios in its early summer assessment and found that a combination of a severe drought, heat wave and low winds could lead to more power outages. Experts warn this summer could be hot and dry, enhanced by climate change.