A landmark water case pitting North Texas against Oklahoma goes to the U.S. Supreme Court next week. The Tarrant Regional Water District, which serves Fort Worth and the surrounding area, has sought more water from Oklahoma, but the Sooner State isn’t selling.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Bidness As Usual
Oil Lobbyists Overseeing Protection of Threatened Lizard in Permian Basin
The oil industry vigorously opposed efforts to list the threatened dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species. But three oil company lobbyists were given day-to-day oversight of the effort to save the reptile.
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Guides
Texplainer: Who Oversees Texas’ Fertilizer Plants?
Hey, Texplainer: Which state and federal agencies were responsible for overseeing and regulating the fertilizer plant in West that exploded last week?
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Energy
TribLive: A Conversation About the Environment
Full video of Kate Galbraith’s 4/22 TribLive conversation about the state of the environment in Texas with Laura Huffman, state director of The Nature Conservancy of Texas, Jim Marston, director of the Texas regional office of the Environmental Defense Fund and Bryan Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
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Energy
Four Months After Fire, Nuclear Reactor Restarts
Four months after a fire shut it down, a nuclear reactor at the South Texas Project in Bay City is being restarted. That is the second prolonged shutdown at the plant in two years, prompting critics to demand closer scrutiny of the operation.
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Economy
Senate OKs Electric Rebates From Fund to Assist Poor
All but 10 percent of a nearly $1 billion state fund intended to assist the poor with utility payments would be rebated to electric customers under a measure that preliminarily passed the Texas Senate on Monday.
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Energy
House Panel Hears Testimony on Climate Change
At a House panel hearing Monday, witnesses largely agreed on the causes and magnitude of climate change, and they told legislators to speed up consideration of how to deal with the results of a warming climate.
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Energy
TribLive: Shaw and Marston on Texas vs. the EPA
At Monday’s TribLive conversation, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan Shaw and James Marston of the Environmental Defense Fund talked about the ongoing war between Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Energy
TribLive: Huffman on Water and the Lege
At Monday’s TribLive conversation, Laura Huffman, the Texas state director of The Nature Conservancy, talked about the prospects for meaningful water legislation to emerge from the 83rd session.
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Energy
TribLive: Marston and Shaw on the West Explosion
At Monday’s TribLive conversation, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan Shaw and James Marston of the Environmental Defense Fund talked about the causes and implications of last week’s tragedy in West.