Under new state law, Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers an extra $200 a year
The new registration fee is meant to make up for the state’s lost revenue from gasoline taxes that are used to pay for road construction and maintenance. Full Story
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![While waiting for the battery in his Tesla EV to charge, a traveler cleans the windshield on his vehicle at a service station in Childress on Aug. 23, 2022.]()
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Texas’ environmental agency enables companies to increase oilfield wastewater disposal in rivers
Researchers are still studying the chemical makeup of “produced water” from Permian Basin oil fields. But regulators say they’re ready to issue permits to discharge the water into rivers and creeks. Full Story
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![Fracking's water demand requires the construction of ponds like these, which store millions of gallons of fresh water. Aug. 21, 2013.]()
Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The Texas Tribune -
Heat, drought and population growth have stressed aquifers that supply water to millions of Texans
Diminishing springs and aquifers due to heat, drought and high for demand water highlight the urgency for Central Texas conservation districts to prioritize climate-focused management, potentially involving reduced pumping for sustainability. Full Story
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![David Baker, founder and director of the Wimberley Watershed Association, said he's never seen the water level so low in Jacob's Well. Photographed on Thursday, August 10, 2023.]()
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For Texans, fighting state-regulated oilfield waste dumps can be a costly, do-it-yourself effort
Some Texans who challenge oil and gas waste sites must spend significant sums and time on investigating what they say the Texas Railroad Commission should examine. Will new regulations for handling waste increase oversight or just maintain the status quo? Full Story
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![Tara Jones, who lives half a mile from the Blackhorn Environmental oil and gas waste facility near Orange Grove, says she spent almost a year learning the state’s regulatory rules and investigating the commercial dumping operation.]()
Credit: Jason Buch/Public Health Watch -
Gov. Greg Abbott declares wildfire disaster for three-fourths of Texas
At least 8,500 acres of Texas land have burned since Aug. 1. The governor’s disaster declaration allows included counties to access state resources to fight wildfires. Full Story
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![The Rolling Pines Fire blazes through Bastrop State Park on Jan. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas sues Shell over Houston-area chemical fire in May
The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages, claiming the three-day blaze at Shell’s Deer Park facility caused air and water pollution that violated state law. Full Story
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![Deer Park, Texas: An overhead view of an explosion at a Shell USA Inc. facility on May 5, 2023 in Deer Park, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
“We’d lose one after the next”: Texas bats face a pandemic of their own
Weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Texas, a biologist found a dead bat covered in a white fungus — the state’s first official case of white-nose syndrome. Now, scientists are on a mission to understand how many bats have been lost. Full Story
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![Lee Mackenzie, co-founder of the Austin Bat Refuge, holds a Mexican free-tailed bat in his hands inside their flight cage in Austin on July 14, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
New forecast predicts more hurricanes because of record-warm sea surface temperatures
Texas meteorologists remind residents to make sure they have a plan in the event of a tropical storm Full Story
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![Highway 225 in Deer Park along the Houston Ship channel during a heavy downpour from Hurricane Harvey on Saturday Aug. 26, 2017. Deer Park is in U.S. Congressional District 36.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texas is preparing for more wildfires without a break from heat in forecast
The number of acres burned this year is dramatically lower compared to 2022. But a rash of new fires have put state and local officials on edge. Full Story
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![Bastrop County Sheriffs Department evacuated businesses and residences as multiple first responders including Bastrop Fire, Round Rock Fire, Austin Fire Department and Travis County ESD join together to fight a powder Keg Pine Fire in Bastrop on Tuesday Aug. 1, 2023.]()
Credit: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Co -
High Plains farmers are experimenting with novel techniques to protect Texas’ future soil
A minority of farmers in the Texas High Plains region are looking to organic and regenerative techniques to keep their soil healthy year round, despite a dry climate. Full Story
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![A field of corn in the Panhandle near Dumas in June, 2013.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for the Texas Tribune -
T-Squared: The wait is over. Our full program for TribFest23 is here!
We’re bringing people together for talks that will examine education, Texas’ energy future, the 2024 races for U.S. Senate and president, and the state of democracy. Full Story
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![Image promoting The Texas Tribune Festival with a solid yellow background and an illustration of the Texas State Capitol dome opened up with Texas iconography spilling out. Images include western boots and hat, a star, and the Texas flag. With text that reads, "The wait is over. Full program announced!"]()
Credit: Reagan Mcgregor Hicks/Texas Tribune -
Texans in Congress take bipartisan path to boost semiconductors, a crucial industry to the state
Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrats like Rep. Colin Allred — opponents in the 2024 election — propose streamlining environmental reviews to promote investment and expansion by chipmakers. Full Story
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![Sen. Ted Cruz speaks to Peter McCormack about bitcoin and freedom at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 18, 2022.]()
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Amid extreme temperatures, Texas state parks can be a respite — or a heated hindrance all their own
More than 1 million people visited Texas’ 89 state parks in June. In locations without bodies of water, park officials warn attendees not to overdo it as three-digit temperatures persist. Full Story
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![Pablo Zapato, 14, of Mission, shakes water off his head after jumping into the creek at Upper McKinney Falls at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin on July 29, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
The “1-mile rule”: Texas’ unwritten, arbitrary policy protects big polluters from citizen complaints
It’s not found anywhere in state law or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s rules, but for years the agency has denied citizens the ability to challenge air pollution permits because they live more than a mile away. Full Story
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![Max Midstream’s Seahawk Oil Terminal sits about four miles across Lavaca Bay from a jetty at Port Lavaca, Texas.]()
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One in five Texans lives in a floodplain, state’s first-ever analysis shows
As it prepares a statewide flood prevention plan, the state found that almost 6 million Texans live in an area susceptible to floodwaters. Full Story
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![Sean and Corie Thomason take their sons Carson and Bradly back to their home via kayak on Wednesday, Aug 30, 2017, in Houston. The family stayed with their grandmother after their neighborhood was flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Black and Hispanic Lubbock residents want federal intervention in zoning, environmental policies
A new federal complaint comes as the city updates its zoning laws for the first time since the 1970s. Full Story
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![Natalie Miller of the North and East Lubbock Coalition speaks during a press conference in Lubbock on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The North and East Lubbock Coalition filed a Title VI Civil Rights Complaint against the city citing discriminatory zoning practices against minority neighborhoods.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
As Texas sizzles, heat experts say preparation is needed for future extreme weather events
The panelists at a Texas Tribune event emphasized the need for a response to combat the dangerous impacts of extreme events that ensures communities receive support to effectively plan, prepare, and recover. Full Story
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Texas has already seen 25 chemical emergencies this year. Here’s how to protect yourself during the next one.
Preparing for a chemical incident means knowing which industrial facilities are near you, creating a disaster supply kit and signing up for alerts from local emergency managers ahead of time. Full Story
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![An overhead view of an explosion at a Shell USA Inc. facility on May 5, 2023 in Deer Park.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
On the Texas-Mexico border, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives an owl protected status, seeks to declare two mussel species endangered
Wildlife groups have long lobbied for increased protection for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. The agency says the mussels species are threatened by reduced flow and poor water quality in the Rio Grande. Full Story
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![The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, which lives in South Texas, Arizona and Mexico, as a threatened species. This owl was photographed in Costa Rica.]()
Credit: Ninahale via Wikimedia Commons -
As Texas’ heat wave continues, tell us how you’re coping
Texans are seeing record-breaking temperatures this summer. Tell us how the excessive heat is affecting your daily life or plans for the future and what questions we can answer about dealing with it. Full Story
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![A construction worker carries a piece of metal while working through a heatwave in Houston on Friday, July 14, 2023.]()
Credit: Douglas Sweet Jr.