Last year, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica investigated Houston’s vulnerability to hurricanes and torrential rainstorms. The nation’s fourth-largest city is sure to see the latter in the coming days. Here’s what we know about what could happen.
Kiah Collier
Kiah Collier was a reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative initiative from 2020 through 2023. She previously worked at the Tribune as a reporter and associate editor, covering energy and the environment through the lens of state government and politics. Kiah has reported for numerous other publications across Texas since 2010, including the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. Her beats also have included government and politics, public education and business. Kiah’s work has been honored with numerous prizes, including a George Foster Peabody Award, a Gerald Loeb Award, the Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism, the National Edward R. Murrow Award for best investigation and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. A seventh-generation Texan, she grew up in the Austin area and graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in journalism and philosophy.
Posted inState Government
Oilfield sand miners encroaching on threatened West Texas lizard
The state’s endangered species chief says a plan to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard is facing a “significant threat” from companies that mine the fine-grain sand that oil producers use for hydraulic fracturing.
Posted in
Energy
Judge denies ExxonMobil request to reduce $20 million air pollution fine
U.S. District Judge David Hittner slapped the the energy giant with a $19.95 million penalty in April for spewing millions of pounds of hazardous pollutants from a Houston-area industrial complex.
Posted in
Demographics
Construction of first border wall segment to begin sooner than expected along Rio Grande
Federal officials plan to start construction this fall on 3 miles of border barrier through a South Texas wildlife refuge.
Posted in
Energy
Environmental groups sue EPA over lax Texas air pollution permits
Environmental groups are taking the EPA to court, alleging the federal agency isn’t properly policing Texas air pollution permits they argue are too lax and complicated.
Posted inEnergy, Environment
A Pass to Poison: Texas regulators largely fail to crack down on top air polluters
Texas industrial polluters rarely face sanctions when they spew noxious chemicals into the air during malfunctions and other unplanned incidents, exceeding the emission limits of their state-issued air permits.
Posted in
Energy
AG Paxton drops Brownsville lawsuit over plastic bag fee
Attorney General Ken Paxton has dropped a lawsuit against the city of Brownsville over a 2010 ordinance that imposed a $1 per-transaction fee on plastic bags offered at grocery stores and other retailers.
Posted in
Health care
House OKs bill allowing adoption agencies to reject parents on religious grounds
Faith-based adoption agencies in Texas would be able to reject prospective parents on religious grounds under a bill the state House approved Tuesday over objections from Democratic lawmakers.
Posted in
Energy
Legislature passes much-criticized bill reforming oil and gas regulatory agency
A Democratic senator on Tuesday made a last-ditch effort to beef up a bill aimed at reforming and reauthorizing the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency — legislation environmental groups and watchdogs have decried as toothless.
Posted in
Energy
ExxonMobil ordered to pay $20 million for air pollution at Houston plants
Environment Texas described the fine against the world’s largest oil company as the “largest penalty resulting from a citizen suit in U.S. history.”
