The historic Texas drought caused statewide worries over potential water shortages when reservoir levels fell dramatically. Our interactive data app allows you to check the current status of the state’s reservoirs.
Kate Galbraith
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.
Posted in
Energy
EPA vs. Texas: The Cross-State Rule
In the month ahead, the cross-state air pollution rule will get its day in court, and as summer approaches, debate will continue over the capacity of the Texas electric grid and how to incentivize construction of more power plants.
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Energy
Stewart Rogers: The TT Interview
The manager of a West Texas farm on the oddities of crop insurance, why all the farmers near Lubbock want to grow cotton and why West Texans don’t believe in climate change despite the drought and weird weather.
Posted in
Energy
Ken Kramer: The TT Interview
The outgoing director of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club on the importance of water, the growth of the Club, and how he stumbled on his future career path while hiking near Fort Bliss.
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Energy
Isolated Texas Electric Grid Could Add Links
Texas’ electric grid prefers to stay isolated from the rest of the nation. But proposals are afoot to boost outside ties — something that proponents say could help ease the state’s looming electricity crunch.
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Energy
Texas Farmers Watered Crops, Knowing That They Wouldn’t Grow
By mid-summer last year, it was so hot and dry that many West Texas cotton farmers gave up hope of producing a crop. Yet they had to keep watering, pumping from diminishing aquifers like the Ogallala, to claim crop insurance.
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Energy
State Needs to Plan Better for Droughts, Panel is Told
The process of desalination needs to be explored as an option for the future, experts testified Thursday in Austin before the House Natural Resources Committee.
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Energy
What Will Obama Say in Oklahoma on Pipeline?
UPDATED: CNN has reported that when President Obama speaks Thursday in Cushing, Okla., he will “fast-track” the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. What this means remains unclear, but the pipeline needs federal permits.
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Energy
Farmers and Regulators Square Off in Battle Over Ogallala Aquifer Rules
As the Ogallala Aquifer slowly declines, some West Texas farmers are facing a new type of regulation: a limit on the amount of water they would pump from wells on their own land. And many aren’t happy about it.
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Energy
Mark Mathis: The TT Interview
The director of SpOILed, which has been described as a “love song to Big Oil,” on who funded his film and why he gives short shrift to climate change.
