environment

Video: Fighting Fires With the Forest Service

by Kate Galbraith April 8, 2011

The Texas Forest Service is the lead state agency tasked with fighting wildfires. Among its recent challenges: a 3,000-acre blaze on an army base near Brownwood. Full Story
Bill Would Create Texas Energy Council

by Kate Galbraith April 7, 2011

The Senate Natural Resources Committee heard testimony this morning on a bill that would create a Texas Energy Policy Council charged with formulating an energy plan for the state. Full Story
Solar Backers Place Hopes in House Bill

by Kate Galbraith April 7, 2011

Advocates of solar power made their case last night for passage of a bill that would add a dollar each month to residential electric bills to fund solar projects. Opponents worry about costs. Full Story

Credit: Wayne National Forest
House Takes Testimony on Groundwater

by Kate Galbraith April 5, 2011

The House Natural Resources Committee is taking testimony today on a controversial groundwater bill that would give landowners "a vested ownership interest" in water below their land. Full Story

Credit: Callie Richmond
On Energy, a Lesson for Texas From the 1970s

by Kate Galbraith April 4, 2011

Unrest in the Middle East, rising oil prices and frustration with federal energy policy — for many Texans, today’s headlines must seem like déjà vu. While the situation is far less severe than the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the parallels are unmistakable. Full Story

Credit: Tom Pennington
Denton Paper Takes Close Look at Fracking

by Kate Galbraith March 31, 2011

The Denton Record-Chronicle, a newspaper in the heart of the Barnett Shale gas-drilling region, has produced a series about "what it means to live in the midst of a modern gas boom" that is worth reading. Full Story

Credit: Creative Commons/Daniel Foster
Legislators Take Up the Great Plastic Bag Debate

by Kate Galbraith March 30, 2011

This week, committees in both chambers heard testimony about bills to encourage recycling of plastic grocery bags. But environmentalists fear that the legislation would prevent local communities from banning plastic bags altogether, as three Texas cities have done. Full Story

Credit: Muliadi Soenaryo
Senate Passes Groundwater Bill

by Kate Galbraith and Christopher Smith Gonzalez March 30, 2011

The Texas Senate passed a much-discussed piece of groundwater legislation, voting 28-3 to approve a bill stating that landowners in the state have a "vested ownership interest" in the groundwater beneath their land. Full Story

Credit: Callie Richmond
In Texas, an Upside to Higher Gas Prices

by Gretch Sanders March 29, 2011

Oil prices hit $100 per barrel last month for the first time since 2008, and prices have continued to rise. But as Gretch Sanders of KUT News reports, paying more at the pump might not be bad news for Texas. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

by Evan Smith March 26, 2011

M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
Texas Could Require Disclosure of Drilling Chemicals

by Kate Galbraith March 25, 2011

A recently introduced bill would make Texas one of only a few states to require natural gas companies to disclose, for a public website, what chemicals they use in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing. Full Story

$A worker untangles a hose at a Fountain Quail water management and treatment facility in Roanoake, Texas. Fountain Quail cleans and separates water used in fracking for natural gas removal.$

Credit: Matt Nager for The New York Times
Railroad Commission Clears Gas Driller of Harming Water

by Kate Galbraith March 22, 2011

In a meeting this morning punctuated by harsh denunciations of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Railroad Commission voted unanimously to clear a natural gas driller, Range Resources, of charges that it contaminated two water wells in Parker County. The EPA, however, said it stands by its charges against the driller. Full Story

Credit: Bob Daemmrich
Environmental Regulators Brace for Budget Cuts

by Kate Galbraith March 22, 2011

Texas' environmental regulators, already under fire from green groups for not doing enough to keep air and water pollution in check, are bracing for deep cuts as lawmakers hash out the budget. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman/Robert Hensley
Texas Task Force to Battle EPA Regulations

by Becca Aaronson March 21, 2011

Texas is summoning all of its political firepower to do battle against the Environmental Protection Agency. A newly announced task force of state and federal lawmakers will try to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and abolishing the state's flexible permitting system for refineries and other big plants. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Bob Daemmrich/Todd Wiseman
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

by Ross Ramsey March 19, 2011

Grissom on threats to re-entry programs for criminals, Hamilton on the tempest over the direction of UT, E. Smith's interview with Joe Straus, Stiles and Chang's new lobbying app, M. Smith and Weber on where state officeholders send their children to school, Aaronson on allowing new nuclear power plants, Aguilar on how Hispanic Republicans are handling immigration issues, Ramshaw talks abortion with Planned Parennthood's Cecile Richards, Tan and Dehn on tapping the Rainy Day Fund and Galbraith on San Antonio and its water: The best of our best content from March 14 to 18, 2011. Full Story

Credit: Illustration by Ben Hasson
New EPA Regulations Could Cost Texas Electric Industry

by Erika Aguilar, KUT News March 18, 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new national standard this week that will require coal-fired plants in Texas to reduce mercury emissions. As Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, the tighter regulations could prove costly for Texas' electric companies. Full Story
In San Antonio, an Unusual Focus on Land Conservation

by Kate Galbraith March 18, 2011

Despite tough economic times, San Antonio is continuing an unusual and aggressive program to protect its aquifer, by using public money to purchase land or easements to prevent development in critical areas. Full Story

Credit: Muliadi Soenaryo
Opponents Fight Nuclear Plant, Citing Japan's Disaster

by Becca Aaronson March 16, 2011

In its first hearing since an earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan and threatened nuclear meltdown at several reactors, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission heard testimony today on whether to give early-stage approval to a new nuclear plant in Texas. Full Story

Credit: Graphic by Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Company
Nuclear Drama in Japan Halts Texas Project

by Erika Aguilar, KUT News March 16, 2011

The nuclear emergency in Japan, 6,500 miles away, has put plans for the expansion of a Texas nuclear facility on hold. And as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, utilities in San Antonio and Austin were in talks to buy power from the plant before the crisis began to unfold. Full Story
Beach Projects at Risk From Lawsuit, Budget

by Becca Aaronson March 15, 2011

The General Land Office has a lot on its plate these days — a controversial property rights lawsuit, the reopening of Texas’ favorite surf spot and an ongoing project to restore Texas’ most fertile fishing pier. Full Story

Credit: Judy Baxter