Georgetown’s municipal utility has unveiled plans to tap wind and solar energy to meet all of its customers’ power needs, making it the first Texas city-owned utility to abandon fossil fuels.
Energy
In-depth reporting on oil, gas, renewable power, and policies shaping the future of energy in Texas from The Texas Tribune.
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Energy
Denton Fracking Ban Tees Up Local Control Fight
Plenty of lawmakers are siding with the oil industry in response to Denton’s vote to ban fracking inside city limits. What’s surprising this session is how few are weighing in for local control.
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Energy
Private Sector Has Hand in State Water Planning
An infusion of $2 billion into Texas’ state water plan — once a little-known wish list of water projects — has highlighted the role of private engineering and consulting firms, which play a big role in writing it.
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Energy
Isaac Jumping Into Hays County Water Fight
With a four-bill cocktail, state Rep. Jason Isaac hopes to stop, or at last slow, a Houston-based company’s plans to pump huge amounts of water from beneath Hays County.
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Economy
Budgetline: A TribCast Series on the Texas Budget
In the first episode of Budgetline, an occasional TribCast series on the Texas budget, Ross and Aman start where state officials started — with the revenue estimate. It sounds simple, but it’s a complicated stew of economics, politics and risky forecasting.
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Energy
Video: The Battle Over Groundwater
At our 3/10 symposium on water, Neena Satija talked about the politics of groundwater with state Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, Billy Howe of the Texas Farm Bureau, Kyle Frazier of the Texas Desalination Association and Dianne Wassenich of the San Marcos River Foundation.
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New in Trib+Water: When Clean Water is Lacking
In this week’s edition of the Trib+Water newsletter: A new series on communities lacking clean water, a new study links climate change to drought and an interview with Cameron Turner of the Agricultural Water Conservation Programs at the Texas Water Development Board.
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Energy
Video: Life After Proposition 6
At our 3/10 symposium on water, I talked about life after Proposition 6 with Chairman Jim Keffer of the House Natural Resources Committee, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller; and Chairman Carlos Rubinstein of the Texas Water Development Board.
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Energy
Endangered Species Expert Heads to Comptroller’s Office
A high-profile new employee in the Texas comptroller’s office won’t focus on revenue estimates or tax collection. Robert Gulley will, however, be looking at monarch butterfly migration patterns and the decline of freshwater mussels.
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Energy
Texas Officials Take Aim at Crude Oil Export Ban
With prices stumbling and crude oil backing up in refineries and tank farms across the state, Texas lawmakers are raising a cry for repeal of the 40-year-old ban on most crude oil exports.