As scorching temperatures continued and Texas electricity use reached another all-time high, the state grid operator initiated the first step of emergency procedures today, seeking power from other grids, including Mexico.
Energy
In-depth reporting on oil, gas, renewable power, and policies shaping the future of energy in Texas from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Energy
High Temperatures Bring Call for Electricity Conservation
As the triple-digit temperatures stretch into August, Texas residents are blasting their air conditioners — and straining the electric grid with record demand. The grid operator is asking that residents and businesses cut down on their electricity use in the late afternoons all week.
Posted in
Energy
In Lubbock, the Evolution of Wind is on Display
Forests of enormous electric wind turbines now rise across West Texas — a far cry from the smaller, water-pumping windmills that covered the land a century ago. In Lubbock, a museum called the American Wind Power Center traces this change, juxtaposing old and new.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson examines the Texas jobs “miracle,” Root on how Rick Perry built his financial portfolio, Tan and Wiseman on Perry vs. Ron Paul, Philpott on how budget cuts will affect a mental health provider, yours truly on a House freshman who was less than impressed with his first legislative experience, M. Smith on public schools charging for things that used to be free, Hamilton on a new call to reinvent higher education, Grissom on a rare stay of execution, Galbraith on the end of a Panhandle wind program, Aguilar on the increase of legal immigration into the U.S. and Texas: The best of our best content from July 25 to 29, 2011.
Posted in
Energy
EPA Issues New Standards for Hydraulic Fracturing
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued new regulatory standards for oil and gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing.
Posted in
Energy
End of an Era for Panhandle Wind Program
As the Department of Agriculture focuses on biofuels, it is pulling out of wind and solar research. For the tiny Panhandle hamlet of Bushland, this means the end of a wind program that has operated for 35 years.
Posted in
Energy
Daughters, Long Custodians of the Alamo, See Their Duties Change
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas are gradually being relieved of sole responsibility for one of the Lone Star state’s most important icons after years of controversy over their management of the Alamo.
Posted in
Energy
For Some Communities, Sewage Has the Sweet Smell of Success
With Texas facing dramatic population growth and constraints on its water supplies, interest in the use of sewage — or “reclaimed water,” as those in the industry prefer to call it — to provide for a variety of water needs is growing.
Posted in
Demographics
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw on the lioness of the Texas House, Dehn and Tan review 20 years of Rick Perry’s political ads, Murphy’s latest database includes the governor’s political accounts over the last decade, Aaronson’s visualizations of what was said in the biggest legislative debates, M. Smith on the woman in the middle chair at the State Board of Education, Galbraith on how the drought is forcing ranchers to sell their herds, Grissom has the story on a cattle rustler who’s asking the courts to give him an old-fashioned sentence, Hamilton covers Rick O’Donnell’s latest salvo at higher education, Aguilar on whether and how the sanctuary cities issue will translate at the ballot box next year, yours truly on Ron Paul’s candidacy and the candidate in his own words: The best of our best from July 18 to 22, 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Thompson Feeds Her “Little Dogs” and Throws a Bone to Bigger Ones
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes.