An intensive process to plan the amount by which Texas aquifers can be depleted over the next half-century has been completed just ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline.
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
TribBlog: Bashing Coal Ash
A new report by three environmental groups documents dangerous levels of toxic contaminants from coal ash in Texas and elsewhere — and little regulation.
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Energy
Oil’s Well That Ends Well
Halfway through a controversial six-month hold on deep water oil drilling, Matt Largey of KUT News reports, energy sector jobs in Texas appear relatively unaffected.
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Energy
Hola, Amigas
Texas has always operated its own electricity grid, separate from the two other grids that span the rest of the nation. But a project quietly emerging in eastern New Mexico could curb that independence — and affect energy prices here in ways that remain much in dispute.
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Energy
The Not-So-Great Outdoors
Three years after voters approved bonds for fixes at state parks, not all of the money has been spent — despite facilities that haven’t been upgraded since the 1930s and recent hurricane damage that hasn’t been repaired.
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Criminal Justice
The Other BP Catastrophe
BP’s problem-plagued Texas City refinery — where a 2005 explosion killed 15 and injured 170 — now faces two civil lawsuits stemming from its release this spring of more than 500,000 pounds of cancer-causing pollutants over 40 days. One suit seeks $10 billion on behalf of 2,000 exposed workers; the other, filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, seeks more than $1 million in fines. Both aim to punish the company for one of the largest chemical emissions events the state has ever seen.
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Energy
The Heat of the Moment
It’s late August in Texas, which means triple-digit temperatures and air conditioners everywhere cranked to the max. No wonder that, on Monday, the state set an energy consumption record — for the second day in a row. Peter Babb of KUT News has this report.
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Energy
Dust to Dust?
Texas has the most acres of any state enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which seeks to prevent another Dust Bowl by paying farmers to plant grass instead of crops. But the program has fallen on hard times, and its participants worry they will, too.
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Energy
Barry Smitherman: The TT Interview
The chairman of the Public Utility Commission talked to the Tribune this week about his controversial application for the top job at the state grid operator, as well as his views on energy efficiency and smart meters.