The latest environment news from The Texas Tribune.
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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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Another oil rig — owned by a Houston-based company — has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Full Story
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The Public Utility Commission is poised to pass new rules that could prohibit some Texans from switching from one electric company to another. But as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, advocates for the elderly and infirm are concerned about the impact of the proposal on some of the state's most vulnerable ratepayers. Full Story
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When Longhorn football kicks off at home this month, so will a brand-new marketing effort urging boosters to buy, of all things, green electricity. Colt McCoy's family has already signed up with Texas Longhorns Energy, which promises customers 100 percent power from Texas wind. The Aggies will roll out a similar deal on Friday. The programs are another sign of the universities' branding heft — even though they may not be the best deal within the confusing Texas electricity market. Full Story
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The former Dallas mayor on her new life as an energy policy nerd, leaving journalism for the "dark side" of elective office, her continuing frustration over the Trinity River Project and her (lack of) political aspirations. Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency is considering new regulations for coal ash — the waste left over from coal-fired power plants. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, those new rules could have a big impact in Texas, the nation’s number one coal consumer. Full Story
An interview with the former mayor of Dallas. Full Story
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. Full Story
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A new report by three environmental groups documents dangerous levels of toxic contaminants from coal ash in Texas and elsewhere — and little regulation. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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. Full Story
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An interview with the PUC chairman. Full Story
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. Full Story
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Texas is suing to stop the Obama administration's second offshore drilling moratorium. Full Story