At our Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, state Reps. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, and state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, discussed cuts to public and higher education and other by-products of the 82nd Session.
Energy
In-depth reporting on oil, gas, renewable power, and policies shaping the future of energy in Texas from The Texas Tribune.
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.
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.
Texas’ Burgeoning Poultry Industry Raises Pollution Concerns
Texas has become a major player in the growing poultry market, ranking sixth in the nation for chicken production. But as Dave Fehling of KUHF News reports for StateImpact Texas, the rise of “big chicken” has sparked some unexpected environmental concerns.
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.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson interactively maps Texas Medicaid providers, Aguilar talks legalization with the head of the Drug Policy Alliance, Galbraith on farmers watering what they know won’t grow, Grisson sits down with exoneree Michael Morton, Hamilton on the elusive $10,000 college degree, Murphy et al. update the 2012 election brackets, Ramsey on Bill Ratliff’s frank budget analysis, Ramshaw on a hospital where the overweight need not apply, Root on Joe Straus’ primary opponent and Tan rounds up reactions to the Supreme Court’s health care hearings: The best of our best content from March 26-30, 2012.
EPA Withdraws Order Against Natural Gas Driller
The Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn an administrative order that charged Range Resources, a Fort Worth-based natural gas driller, with contaminating water wells.
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.
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 125
Reeve, Emily, Jay and Kate talk about a Texas hospital that won’t hire obese workers, Texas farmers watering crops that won’t grow, and the primary challenge for the Speaker of the Texas House.
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.




