The fertilizer was promoted as an environmental win-win for years. An untold number of farmers and ranchers across Texas have spread it on their land.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
Bills seek to improve state’s response to wildfires a year after devastation in Panhandle
A proposal to create a statewide system connecting emergency personnel and agencies is among several bills that target problems exposed in 2024.
An abandoned West Texas oil well has created a 200-foot-wide sinkhole
The rapidly-growing sinkhole in Upton County is the latest of many problems caused by old wells in the Permian Basin.
Texas lawmakers will debate saving the state’s water supply after key legislation is introduced
The state House and Senate have similar proposals to solve the state’s water crisis, but there are stark differences on how to invest billions of dollars to resolve.
Want to understand Texas’ water crisis? Start with the guide to water terms.
Water is complex. So are the terms used to describe it. Get to know the language as Texas debates how to save its water supply.
Texas is running out of water. Here’s why and what state leaders plan to do about it.
The state’s water supply faces numerous threats. And by one estimate, the state’s municipal supply will not meet demand by 2030 if there’s a severe drought and no water solutions are implemented.
A Republican effort to set deadlines to plug orphan wells in Texas hits resistance
The bill would have set deadlines for the oil and gas industry to plug inactive wells, which can pose a danger to the environment.
“We’re doing what Canadian has always done,” Panhandle resident says a year after wildfires
Canadian — one of the communities hardest hit by last year’s wildfires — is on the road to recovery and working to be a resource for others around the state.
Texas Senate panel sends message to Trump: Get our water from Mexico
Farmers and elected officials told a Senate committee Monday that the lack of water is becoming dire, with little relief in sight.
U.S. Supreme Court takes up Texas nuclear waste disposal case
The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders.

