Deer Park terminal fire extinguished after three days of burning
A fire that broke out Sunday morning at a petrochemical storage facility in the industrial Houston suburb stopped burning overnight. Full Story
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![A thick layer of smoke hangs in the air from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, Texas, U.S., March 18, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
State regulators: No 'immediate health concerns' from Deer Park terminal fire
In a statement Monday afternoon, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said air quality monitoring "had not detected any immediate health concerns at ground level" amid a multi-tank fire at a petrochemical storage facility near Houston. Full Story
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![Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston on March 18, 2019.]()
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Post-Harvey, Texas State Aquarium seeks funds for new wildlife rescue center
Before Hurricane Harvey, state aquarium staff evacuated turtles, stingrays, dolphins and other recovering animals from an aging rescue center they feared would blow away. Now, they're asking the state for help to build a new facility. Full Story
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![Senior Wildlife Care Specialist Rico Olvera discusses a green sea turtle whose shell was injured by a boat propeller blade and suffers from a disease called fibropapilloma. The sea turtle is housed at the Texas State Aquarium Wildlife Rescue facility.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Explosions from unregulated pipelines can kill in Texas while energy companies go unpunished
People can die when small rural pipelines called "gathering lines" explode. But after decades of talk among industry representatives and regulators, the death of a little girl in Texas serves as a reminder that there are still no rules. Full Story
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![A firefighter tamps out flames shortly after an explosion destroyed the Tercero family's home outside Midland.]()
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Report: Harris County buyouts of flooded homes have been less than strategic
A new study by The Nature Conservancy and Texas A&M University says it's more cost effective to buy out homes in clusters instead of an uncoordinated, checkerboard approach. Full Story
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![People walk along the Barker Reservoir Dam in Houston on Tuesday, Aug 29, 2017. Torrential rains from Hurricane Harvey caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water from the reservoir, aggravating flooding in neighborhoods below the dam.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Railroad commissioners voice doubts that Permian Basin flaring is more prevalent than reported
The Environmental Defense Fund concluded that oil producers burned off more natural gas than they reported to the state. But Texas officials expressed skepticism of those findings during a state Senate hearing Wednesday. Full Story
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![A gas flare burns bright on a production site northeast of Andrews, Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Abbott, other Texas officials urge feds to clear way for Harvey money
The state has been waiting a year for the federal government to set rules for how $4.3 billion in disaster recovery grants can be spent. Full Story
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![A man walks through floodwaters after surveying his property in Rockport, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey, on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
Report: Unauthorized air pollution in Texas up 27 percent in 2017
An analysis by the research arm of Environment Texas found that 275 companies across the state reported emitting 63 million pounds of hazardous and climate-warming pollutants from their facilities in 2017. Full Story
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![Sign indicating the presence of poison gas in Pecos County, Texas.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
State lawmakers aim to lock in funding for Texas parks, historic sites
In 1993, the Legislature passed a law that said state parks and historic sites could receive all of the money generated by a tax on the sale of sporting goods. Since then, state lawmakers have given the parks department only about 40 percent of those collections. Full Story
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![Balmorhea State Park.]()
Credit: Chase A. Fountain/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department -
Report: Permian Basin oil producers flaring more natural gas than they told the state
An analysis of government satellite data by the Environmental Defense Fund shows that the amount of natural gas that energy companies burned off in 2017 is twice as high as what they reported to state regulators. Full Story
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![A flare burns on May 24, 2018, atop a drill pad on land near Carlsbad, N.M., that Wayne Smith leased for ranching before his death in October. The development covered seven times more acreage than the Bureau of Land Management said would be used, Smith said in May.]()
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After Hurricane Harvey, Texas senator eyes using state's savings for flood control
State Sen. Charles Perry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Water and Rural Affairs, has a package of bills that could create Texas' first statewide flood plan. He says coastal Texans aren't the only ones at risk of property loss. Full Story
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![Record rainfall in Llano and Burnet counties in the Texas Hill Country cause major flooding in Marble Falls on Oct. 16, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Report: Texas coal power plants leaching toxic pollutants into groundwater
Analyzing groundwater monitoring data that power companies are now required to report to the federal government, the Environmental Integrity Project found that groundwater under 16 Texas coal plants had unsafe levels of contaminants including arsenic. The pollution is linked to disposal pits for spent coal. Full Story
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![The Fayette Power Project plant is a coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, in Fayette County. Jan. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
How a new oil boom is transforming West Texas and altering climate change math
Our series on the global implications of a new golden age for Permian Basin oil began with a very local story: How towns large and small are trying to deal with an explosion in drilling activity, population, traffic and other effects of the new boom. Full Story
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![Pumpjacks at sunrise in the Permian Basin in West Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. fossil fuel exports spur Asian building boom, climate worries
As American natural gas production soars, South Korea rushes to build tankers to move that energy to Asia’s top economies. Full Story
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![HOLD FOR USE WITH STORY SLUGGED US CLIMATE EXPORT BOOM. ONLY USE FOR THIS STORY: Workers board large-sized liquified natural gas carriers under construction at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering facility on Geoje Island, South Korea. The boom in fossil-fuel production in the United States has been matched by a rush on the other side of the Pacific to build the infrastructure needed to respond to the seemingly unquenchable thirst for energy among Asia’s top economies. Dec. 7, 2018.]()
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Catch up on some of The Texas Tribune's top projects from 2018
The Texas Tribune produced several deep-dive investigations in 2018 that examined various issues that affect Texans across the state. Here's a look at some of those standout projects. Full Story
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Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera / Reynaldo Leal / Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Rebuilding commission calls Hurricane Harvey a "wakeup call" for Texas
A report by the Commission to Rebuild Texas says there is an urgent need to "future-proof" the Gulf Coast. Full Story
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![Evacuees flee flooding in a boat with a nearly submerged Houston sign behind them, on Aug, 29, 2017.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Galveston residents weigh in on hurricane levee proposal that some call "a really bad, bad plan"
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office proposed a massive levee system for the Houston area in late October that would cost as much as $20 billion. It's part of a larger plan to protect the state's coastline from hurricane storm surge. Full Story
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![Lauri Mathias speaks during public comments at an Army Corp of Engineers meeting about the Texas Coastal Study, in Galveston on Dec. 12, 2018.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texas parks department, advocates pushing Congress to reauthorize key conservation fund
The chief of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says the absence of the 54-year-old Land and Water Conservation Fund is a "substantial loss" for state parks and natural areas. Full Story
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![Facing downstream from Dolan Falls on the Devils River. The river is fed by freshwater springs that flow from the limestone cliffs above.
*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this slideshow incorrectly identified a butterfly as a monarch butterfly.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson -
Surge of oil and gas flowing to Texas coastline triggers building boom, tensions
For Texas ports, the rise in oil and gas exports is a windfall. For some communities, it’s not so simple. Full Story
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![A brown pelican perches on a fishing pier, damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, in Port Aransas, Texas, on June 6, 2018. In the background stand three offshore oil rigs.]()
Credit: Kevin Clancy / Newsy -
Amid industrial boom, Corpus Christi officials look to meet growing water demand
As more oil and gas facilities come online in the Coastal Bend, the city and port of Corpus — and a handful of private companies — are planning to build a bevy of seawater desalination plants. Full Story
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![The inside of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant in El Paso on April 16, 2012.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune