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The latest energy news from The Texas Tribune.

  • The Not-So-Great Outdoors

    By Allen Reed

    Three years after voters approved bonds for fixes at state parks, not all of the money has been spent — despite facilities that haven't been upgraded since the 1930s and recent hurricane damage that hasn't been repaired. Full Story 

    USS Battleship Texas and the San Jacinto monument
    Credit: Louis Vest

  • The Other BP Catastrophe

    By Morgan Smith

    BP's problem-plagued Texas City refinery — where a 2005 explosion killed 15 and injured 170 — now faces two civil lawsuits stemming from its release this spring of more than 500,000 pounds of cancer-causing pollutants over 40 days. One suit seeks $10 billion on behalf of 2,000 exposed workers; the other, filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, seeks more than $1 million in fines. Both aim to punish the company for one of the largest chemical emissions events the state has ever seen. Full Story 

    The BP refinery in Texas City
    Credit: Callie Richmond

  • The Heat of the Moment

    By Peter Babb

    It's late August in Texas, which means triple-digit temperatures and air conditioners everywhere cranked to the max. No wonder that, on Monday, the state set an energy consumption record — for the second day in a row. Peter Babb of KUT News has this report. Full Story 

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  • Dust to Dust?

    By Kate Galbraith

    Texas has the most acres of any state enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which seeks to prevent another Dust Bowl by paying farmers to plant grass instead of crops. But the program has fallen on hard times, and its participants worry they will, too. Full Story 

    Lynn County Judge H.G. Franklin looks out over his land, which is enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.
    Credit: Kate Galbraith

  • The Pelican Grief

    By Elizabeth Titus

    At Goose Island, near Rockport, some of the nearly 200 pelicans rescued from the Gulf oil spill and sent to Texas seem to be thriving. But officials are holding their breath to see whether the rescued birds stick around or fly back to habitats that may still be contaminated. "Wildlife do crazy things," says the manager of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. "That's why they're called 'wild.'" But the ones that stay could face survival struggles, too, from coastal litter and competition with other species for food. Full Story 

    Twenty brown pelicans now call Texas home after getting "oiled" in the BP spill off Louisiana's coast
    Credit: Spencer Selvidge

  • Reservoir Dogged

    By Morgan Smith

    In 2004, two brothers thought they had found the perfect ecologically friendly business venture: create a wetlands preserve on 4,000 acres of neglected farmland along the Sulphur River in Northeast Texas and make a pile of money selling mitigation credits to developers who build over environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere. Seven years later, the only thing stopping them from realizing that dream is the state of Texas, which has plans to submerge their property under 80 feet of water. Full Story 

    The Hearts Bluff Mitigation Bank as pictured with the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir.
    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Face-Off: Porter vs. Weems

    By Elise Hu

    The two men battling for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission go head-to-head — virtually — in the latest installment of our Face-Off video series. Watch as political novice and certified public accountant David Porter, a Midland Republican, debates Democrat Jeff Weems, an oil and gas attorney from Houston, on their respective qualifications for the job, whether there are enough pipeline inspectors and and the proper balance between environmental regulation and economic growth. Full Story 

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  • Nelson Roach: The TT Interview

    By Kate Galbraith

    The past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, who testifies before two House committees today, tells the Tribune that Texas liability law shortchanges workers caught in industrial accidents — an issue of renewed interest since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Full Story 

    Nelson Roach, past president of the TTLA.
    Credit: Nix, Patterson & Roach LLP

  • TribBlog: Life's a Beach in Texas

    By Sarah Acosta

    Texas beaches aren't awash in oil like the sands are in some other Gulf Coast states, but they could be cleaner, a group of environmental advocates said today as it released an annual review of the nation's beaches. Full Story 

    Texas beach
    Credit: http://wwwdb.glo.state.tx.us/Beachwatch/images/beach1.jpg

  • A Toxic Issue

    By Kate Galbraith

    In Texas and nationwide, controversy is escalating over the practice of shooting water, sand and chemicals underground to retrieve natural gas. Some companies have responded by using less dangerous chemicals. Full Story 

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    Credit: Creative Commons/Daniel Foster