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.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo/The Texas Tribune -
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.]()
Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News -
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. -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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