As Texas swelters, crops and cattle are increasingly at risk
One year after a devastating drought, Texas agriculture watchers are wary that the positive effects of a wet spring could be zapped up with extreme heat. Full Story
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![Cotton fields near the High Plains town of Ralls, about 30 miles east of Lubbock, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Like much of Texas, the High Plains and Panhandle are facing drought conditions and extraordinary heat.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune -
EPA will decide if the state is doing enough to reduce pollution in two East Texas counties
The federal agency has settled a lawsuit the Sierra Club brought over pollution from a coal-burning power plant. The agreement requires the EPA to weigh in on the state’s plan to improve air quality in Rusk and Panola counties. Full Story
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![Steam rises from the stacks at the Martin Lake Coal-Fired Power Plant in Tatum on March 30, 2011.]()
Credit: Tom Pennington for The Texas Tribune -
First offshore wind leases off the Texas coast offered for bidding
Some oil companies have expressed interest in bidding to build wind turbines off the Texas coast, which could help reduce emissions that cause climate change but still come at an environmental cost. Full Story
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![The offshore wind park of Saint-Nazaire is pictured off Le Croisic, western France, on September 22, 2022.]()
Credit: Pool/ABACA via Reuters Connect -
West Texas gas operators released tons of excess emissions during June heat wave
When sizzling temperatures in June affected the air pressure in pipelines in West Texas, companies in five counties vented millions of pounds of natural gas and other toxins into the air. Full Story
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![A sign warns passersby of oil and gas pipeline in the area south of San Antonio, TX known as the Eagle Ford Oil Patch.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
A Texas energy company will pay $1.3 million over pollution in the Permian Basin, EPA says
The EPA last year announced aerial surveillance of “super-emitters.” At least one other company in New Mexico faced a similar fine. Full Story
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![A natural gas flare operates less than 200 yards away from a family home on March 14, 2022 in Midland.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
This summer is on track to be among Texas’ most extreme
June was only the 16th-warmest on record in Texas, but a mid-month heatwave brought an unusually high number of 100-degree days. Full Story
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![TxDOT employee Brad Shepard sweeps the road shoulder clean of the asphalt cold mix he put down while doing edge repairs on Interstate 35 in Austin on August 19th, 2013.]()
Credit: Spencer Selvidge for the Texas Tribune -
At a shuttered Texas coal mine, a 1-acre garden is helping feed 2,000 people per month
The garden in the middle of a 35,000-acre former mine is supplying thousands of pounds of fresh produce to families in three counties that have few grocery stores. Full Story
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![From left: Ava Moore, 18; Caleb Rappolee, 17; Pera Taylor, 11; and Salaya Henderson, 11, volunteer gardeners, pick fresh onions at the Dewey Prairie Garden in Donie on June 29, 2023. The Dewey Prairie Garden is a pilot program that practices the final stages of NRG Jewett Mine’s environmental reclamation process that takes on average 12 years from start to finish.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Company confirms it has found new funding to build a massive gas terminal at the Port of Brownsville
Brownsville is the last major deepwater port in Texas that doesn’t have large fossil fuel projects. The 750-acre facility will export Texas natural gas to other countries. Full Story
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![The Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande delta, about six miles east of the proposed 750-acre site of the Rio Grande LNG facility.]()
Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News -
A Comal County ranch owner ponders selling his land, setting off another clash between property rights and environmental concerns
When the owner applied for a state permit that could pave the way for a subdivision, neighbors and environmentalists rallied against it in the name of protecting the area’s rivers and the Edwards Aquifer. Full Story
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![A car drives by Doug Harrison’s property in Comal County nearly halfway between New Braunfels and Bulverde, on June 16, 2023. Harrison’s application for a wastewater treatment plant on his 500-plus-acre plot of land in Comal County stirred controversy as residents have raised environmental concerns.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Limited regulations make Texas workers responsible for preventing on-the-job heat injuries
In triple-digit temperatures, drinking water frequently and resting in the shade are minimum safety measures for avoiding injuries and deaths. But they are not applied to every job site. Full Story
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![Martin Capallera, 50, a construction employee, throws on his neon vest and slips on his neck gaiter after taking a break in his car while working in the late morning heat in Austin’s West Campus neighborhood on July 6, 2023. Capallera specializes in rewiring buildings and currently works on the 24th floor of a new building on W. 21st Street and San Antonio. “We try to keep our people safe,” Capallera said. “We’re all the time under the sun.”]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Essay: Extreme heat is threatening corn in South Texas — and the state’s food supply
The crop, a staple of the fertile Rio Grande Valley, is particularly susceptible to rising temperatures. It’s also a global challenge, as climate change drives food insecurity. Full Story
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![Alexis Racelis, an environmental scientist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, at the Hub of Prosperity Farm in Edinburg on July 9, 2023. The farm is an urban farm partnership between Edinburg First United Methodist Church and the university’s agroecology department.]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Extreme heat and the toll of climate change on Texas
In this week’s episode, we speak with The Texas Tribune’s climate reporter Erin Douglas about why it’s been so hot in Texas and examine the long-term implications as climate change shifts the entire range of Texas heat upward. Full Story
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![Jackson Maniradukunda, 20, runs sprints while working out in the early morning at Yellow Jacked Stadium at Eastside Early College High School in Austin on June 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Deer Park chemical fire in 2019 could have been prevented, federal investigation finds
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board found that the ITC tank farm lacked crucial equipment to warn workers about the failure that led to the three-day fire. Full Story
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![Firefighters struggle to extinguish the towering flames pouring out of ITC’s tank 80-8 on the afternoon of March 17, 2019. The fire would blow through the entire “2nd 80’s” section of the facility.]()
Credit: Courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -
Emergency room visits surge, Texans die amid dangerous heat wave
After weeks of extreme heat, health officials have reported numerous deaths, while emergency departments across the state are seeing record numbers of people seeking treatment for heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Full Story
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![Firefighter EMT William Dorsey lifts a migrant woman suffering from heat exhaustion onto a stretcher in the border community of Eagle Pass, Texas on June 26, 2023.]()
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Federal investigation faults Houston company in 2020 explosion that killed three people
The explosion at a machine shop damaged hundreds of nearby homes. Investigators found that flammable gas leaked into the building and was ignited by a light switch. Full Story
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![Fransisco Castrejon, 62, stands inside his house, damaged by a warehouse explosion nearby in Houston, on Jan. 24, 2020. A massive explosion occurred at Watson Grinding & Manufacturing in Northeast Houston in the early hours and affected nearby homes.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Go Nakamura -
Climate change has sent temperatures soaring in Texas
Hotter days and nights. More record highs. Climate change has shifted the entire range of Texas heat upwards. Full Story
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![Cotton plants grow in a field while a dust storm blows ahead of a late summer thunderstorm Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, in Terry County, Texas. (Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
At least four people killed after tornado hits Matador, a small town outside Lubbock
The city of about 800 also suffered extensive property damage and power outages. Crews were still assessing the full scope of destruction Thursday, and Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration. Full Story
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![From left, Tyne Marshall sits on the ground next to Brett Homer and Cambrie Marshall, grand daughters of Ken and Mary Marshall, sho survives the tornado. Emergency personnel and Matador townspeople sift through the rubble Thursday morning, June 22, 2013, left after a tornado devastated the small town Wednesday night.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
In tornado’s aftermath, Perryton residents refuse to see their town wiped from the map
Three people died, and part of the remote Panhandle town was destroyed. Its residents immediately set forth on the long road to recovery. Full Story
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![A tornado left buildings significantly damaged and homes leveled in Perryton on Thursday, June 15, 2023. At least three people were confirmed dead and dozens others injured.]()
Credit: Alex Driggars/Amarillo Globe-News/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS -
Texas cities set temperature records amid relentless heat wave
Corpus Christi logged a heat index of 125 degrees at one point in the past week, as Laredo, Del Rio, San Angelo and Junction also set new highs. Full Story
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![Utility poles lead to downtown Dallas during a heat advisory in Dallas on July 12, 2022.]()
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Texas farmers are worried one of the state’s most precious water resources is running dry. You should be, too.
The Ogallala Aquifer serves farming communities in multiple states. When it runs dry, the agriculture industry in Texas and the nation is in jeopardy. Full Story
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![Field Technician Supervisor Billy Barron uses e-line water level meter to check the level of a water well in a pecan orchard in Lubbock County. Barron was checking water levels near the at the High Plains Underground Water Conservation office Friday, Dec. 13, 2023.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune