The latest environment news from The Texas Tribune.
Recent rains have improved drought conditions in Central and East Texas, but rural West Texas continues to struggle. Mose Buchele of KUT News reports for StateImpact Texas on what happens when cities see rain while rural lands continue to suffer. Full Story
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Texas is one of the nation's only producers of uranium, and mining companies are gearing up for expansion. That's causing concern among environmental groups, some of which have been battling uranium mining for decades. Full Story
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Aaronson maps Medicaid patients' access to pharmacies, Aguilar on Mexicans in exile, Batheja on an unlikely threat to a veteran lawmaker's re-election, Galbraith and Murphy interactively track reservoir levels around the state, Grissom on the ringleaders who rule the state's largest youth lockup, Hamilton on how much Texas professors are paid, Ramsey on who's conservative, Ramshaw and Tan on the latest Planned Parenthood kerfuffle, Root on what Santorum's exit means for the Texas primary, and parts 4 (by M. Smith) and 5 (by Tan and Dehn) of our series on school district closures: The best of our best content from April 9-13, 2012. Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling out a rule aimed at improving air quality above national parks like Big Bend by focusing on big industrial plants. Full Story
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The historic Texas drought caused statewide worries over potential water shortages when reservoir levels fell dramatically. Our interactive data app allows you to check the current status of the state's reservoirs. Full Story
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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will vote Wednesday on whether to prohibit state agencies from participating in contested case hearings on permits and licenses issued by the commission. Full Story
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With the drought receding, at least temporarily, some scientists have turned their focus to the state's waterways, where mussels have been disappearing. KUHF News' Dave Fehling reports for StateImpact Texas on the future of the organism that some consider a biological indicator of the health of the state's water system. Full Story
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The first two parts of M. Smith's series on failing school districts (plus Murphy and Seger's interactive on how districts' characteristics relate to ratings), Root on lagging GOP candidates for president trying to shore things up in Texas, Ramshaw on a "fiscal switcheroo" to get federal money for women's health programs, Galbraith talks to a West Texas farmer about crop insurance and climate change and Aguilar on the money behind a lawsuit on long rifle sales: The best of our best content from April 2 to 6, 2012. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn an administrative order that charged Range Resources, a Fort Worth-based natural gas driller, with contaminating water wells. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced rules limiting carbon pollution from new power plants nationwide. As Mose Buchele of KUT News reports for StateImpact Texas, plants may start scrambling to begin construction before the regulations take effect. Read the full story at StateImpact Texas. Full Story
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The PBS NewsHour, in partnership with StateImpact Texas, takes a look at how two Texas communities are dealing with the Texas drought. Full Story
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