How Texas Won the Race to Harness the Wind
In their new book, The Great Texas Wind Rush, reporters Kate Galbraith and Asher Price tell the story of how Texas became an unlikely leader in wind energy. Full Story
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Credit: The University of Texas Press -
Abbott: State Has No Obligation to Aid TWIA Financially
In an opinion issued this week, Attorney General Greg Abbott says the state is under no legal obligation to help cover any potential shortfall faced by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. Full Story
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In the Panhandle, an Experiment to Help Farmers Save Water
Deep in the Panhandle, a groundwater district is running a closely watched demonstration project aimed at showing farmers how to use less irrigation water on their crops. As the Ogallala Aquifer drops, saving water is an increasingly urgent task. Full Story
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![A device that transmits information on soil moisture in a cornfield belonging to David Ford (standing) a farmer near the Texas Panhandle town of Dumas. He is participating in a water-saving demonstration project.]()
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Video: West Texas Town Dealing With Water Shortages
This month, the sole public water well in Barnhart went dry for nearly three days. Residents in the Permian Basin community say that the area's thriving fracking industry is important but that a proper balance must be struck. Full Story
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North Texas Town Upset With Perry's Veto of Water System Measure
State Rep. Charlie Geren and leaders in the North Texas town of Blue Mound are upset that Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for the town to gain control of its water system. Full Story
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![Roy Thornhill Sr. (center) voices his concern as residents of the City of Blue Mound, Texas, gather at their community center, on Monday, March 4, 2013. The small North Texas City of Blue Mound held a town hall meeting on Monday, March 4, for its residents to sign a petition against what they say are unjustifiably high water rate increases.]()
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Medina Leading Coalition Targeting Pipeline Expansion
Citing concerns about eminent domain abuse and the potential contamination of water resources, a coalition is asking state lawmakers to conduct interim studies and hold public meetings on the issue of oil pipeline expansion. Full Story
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![Former gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina on Sept. 22, 2011, at a press conference on cronyism in Texas politics]()
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Lawmakers Seek Lessons From West Explosion
A panel of House lawmakers on Monday agreed to join other state officials in calling on the federal government to send additional aid to the small town of West, which was rocked in April by a massive plant explosion. Full Story
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![A vehicle near the remains of a fertilizer plant burning after an explosion in West, Texas, near Waco.]()
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Railroad Commission Chairman Mulls Future
Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the Railroad Commission and former chairman of the Public Utility Commission, has earned praise as a smart and competent regulator. But he is also ambitious, and speculation is rife that he will make a bid for attorney general. Full Story
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![Chairman Barry Smitherman of the Railroad Commission of Texas in his office, May 31, 2013.]()
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Perry Issues More Than Two Dozen Vetoes
Gov. Rick Perry issued more than two dozen vetoes Friday, including a line-item veto that wipes out funding for the Travis County prosecutors who investigate government fraud and public corruption. He also vetoed a bill that would have had Texas law mirror gender wage protections in the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Full Story
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![The Texas Tribune Festival 2012 Opening Session: A Conversation with Gov. Rick Perry and Evan Smith, Sept. 21, 2012.]()
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Rivers Tested by Drought, Population Growth
As the drought continues to blanket most of the state, demands for water are increasing from a growing population and industrial base. These pressures are squeezing Texas waterways, whose average streamflow remains well below normal. Full Story
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Interactive: Texas Public Water Systems At Risk
Hotter days are back, and cities across Texas are again at risk of running out of water. Barnhart, a small community in West Texas, already ran out of water just this month. Use our redesigned interactive to track water systems at risk. Full Story
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Federal Legislation Targets Mexico Over Water Treaty
Saying that Mexico is violating the terms of a 1944 water treaty, federal lawmakers from Texas filed legislation Monday that they hope will compel the United States' southern neighbor to meet its obligations. Full Story
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Focus on Border Aquifers Urged During Push for More Water From Mexico
A water war between the U.S. and Mexico dominates headlines amid a record drought. But some experts caution that a larger issue is boiling beneath the surface: the mining of unregulated transnational aquifers. Full Story
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![Rio Grande as seen from Chapeno, Starr Co.]()
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Old Oilfield Equipment Raises Pollution Fears
Abandoned oilfield equipment is a common problem in Texas, but some fear that the recent surge in hydraulic fracturing will set off worrisome new encounters with old wells. Full Story
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![Landowner Stuart Carter, in Central Texas near the town of Luling, has years of abandoned oil equipment on his property. Here, two oil wooden oil tanks that he says date to the 1920s.]()
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Subdivision Plans May Threaten Bat Colony
Bracken Cave, north of the burgeoning San Antonio metropolitan area, has been the summer home to the world's largest colony of bats for thousands of years. But conservationists worry a developer's plan threatens the bats. Full Story
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![Bracken Cave, just north of the burgeoning San Antonio metropolitan area, has been home to the largest colony of bats in the world for thousands of years. But the keepers of the preserve that holds the cave say a developer's attempt to build 3,800 homes next to the cave threatens the bats' very livelihood.]()
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West Texas Oilfield Town Runs Out of Water
Barnhart, a small community about 50 miles southwest of San Angelo in West Texas, has run out of water after the town's only municipal water well failed. Officials say that the water demands of oil drilling are a factor. Full Story
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![Southern plains bison from the Goodnight heard are raised for meat on Hugh Fitzsimons's SHAPE Ranch in Carrizo Springs, TX, February, 21, 2013.]()
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Water Treaty Concerns Trigger Lobbying Efforts, Calls for Changes
The Rio Grande Regional Water Authority has hired a PR firm to help urge the federal government to mandate that Mexico deliver water to the U.S. under a decades-old treaty. Legal experts say such conflicts would continue if the treaty isn't amended. Full Story
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Slideshow: Bracken Bat Cave
Every summer night, a swirling vortex of Mexican free-tailed bats emerges from Bracken Cave, the largest such colony in the world. It's a sight the cave's protectors say is threatened by a developer's plans. Full Story
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Fine-Dust Pollution in Houston Could Violate Federal Standards
In Houston, air pollution worries usually are about ozone, but scientists are paying increasingly close attention to fine dust. It’s more dangerous than ozone, some say, and the EPA will soon decide whether Houston has too much. Full Story
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![An oil refinery is shown in the Houston Ship Channel in 2011.]()
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Fort Worth Floats Idea of Privatizing Water Services
The city of Fort Worth has appointed a task force to see whether the city might save money by putting some of its water services in public-private partnerships. Experts say a number of issues could arise if such partnerships are instituted. Full Story
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Credit: Josh Berglund