Two years after Hurricane Ike’s surge crossed Galveston like a speed bump on its way to Houston, planners and academics are staring down multibillion-dollar public policy dilemmas. To describe Ike as a “wake-up call” understates and trivializes the matter. Like other coastal areas around the nation and around the world, the Houston-Galveston region is only now grappling with complex and costly questions of how to protect sprawling seaside development from the combination of subsidence and an expected sea-level rise from global warming.
Energy
In-depth reporting on oil, gas, renewable power, and policies shaping the future of energy in Texas from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Galbraith’s three-parter on the battle over wind power transmission lines, Grissom on a convicted killer who got probation, Aguilar on how the U.S. census counts inmates in the Texas prison system, Stiles launches a new interactive tool tracking the candidates for governor, Hamilton on the Texas A&M University System’s latest accountability measure for faculty, Hu’s interview with Democratic megadonor Steve “Back to Basics” Mostyn, Philpott on how the Texas economy compares to that of other states and Ramsey on the start of the 2010 election sprint: The best of our best from Sept. 6 to 10, 2010.
Posted in
Energy
Series Explores Texas’ Transmission Lines for Wind Power
This week, the Tribune put together a three-part series exploring the state’s $5 billion transmission-line build-out to support wind power, which is mostly generated in West Texas but needs to be shipped to cities in Central and East Texas. The project is known as CREZ, short for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones.
Posted in
Energy
Battle Lines: Panhandle Power
While West Texas has become the nation’s wind-power hub, the Panhandle’s ferocious winds go largely untapped. That could change with a slew of proposed transmission line projects that could, in turn, enable forests of turbines — if landowners can be soothed. Part three of a three-part series.
Posted in
Energy
Battle Lines: Electrifying the Hill Country
The epicenter of the fight over the state’s wind power transmission lines is the Hill Country, where landowners are spending lots of money and time to keep the lines from being built. They’re trotting out every conceivable argument, and they may just succeed. Part two of a three-part series.
Posted in
Energy
Battle Lines: Fighting the Power
Texas already harvests more wind power than any state in the nation, bringing the promise of clean energy to millions of homes and businesses. Trouble is, getting that power from remote, windy West Texas to the big cities requires a massive, $5 billion network of transmission lines — which property owners in the Hill County and elsewhere don’t want in their back yards. As construction gets under way on the new lines, an army of lawyers and angry landowners is working to stymie the state’s renewable energy plans. Part one of a three-part series.
Posted in
Energy
Sounding Off on EPA Regulation
Texans are being asked to sound off as the Environmental Protection Agency considers regulating the dumping of coal ash. A public hearing on the issue will be held later today in Dallas. David Martin Davies of Texas Public Radio reports.
Posted in
Energy
There Goes the Sun
In the tiny outpost of Marfa, residents who opposed the build-out of a massive solar power plant can thank the languishing economy for putting the project on hold. Tessera Solar has scotched plans to erect 1,000 three-story mirrored satellite dishes until further notice.
Posted in
Energy
Coal Hard Cash
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced more than half a billion dollars in funding for “clean coal” projects across the country. As Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, a sizable chunk of that federal spending will land right here in Texas.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
I hit the campaign trail with Rick Perry, E. Smith starts off the fall TribLive series by interviewing Attorney General Greg Abbott, Stiles on the most congested roads in Texas, Ramshaw’s interview with former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, Grissom on the perils of talking too much if you’re the head of the state’s jail standards board, M. Smith on Congressman Chet Edwards’ fight for political survival in a Republican year, Philpott on counties worried the state’s budget woes will trickle down, Hamilton on whether Texas should be in the movie-vetting business, Aguilar on a Mexican journalist seeking asylum from his country’s drug violence, Galbraith on green energy and Texas college football, and excerpts from former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby’s new book, How Things Really Work: Lessons from a Life in Politics: The best of our best from August 30 to September 3, 2010.