Environment

The former EPA regional administrator on his decision to resign, why he joined the Sierra Club and why he views climate change as the biggest environmental problem facing Texas.

A small number of Texas homeowners are signed up to help the electric grid when it is strained, by allowing their air conditioners to cycle off briefly during the hottest afternoons. It’s a concept that regulators in Austin are eager to spread.

The state-regulated maximum price for wholesale electricity takes a big jump on Wednesday, but whether the cost of higher prices will be passed on to Texas consumers remains unclear.

A judge this week reversed the air permit for a proposed coal plant in Corpus Christi called Las Brisas, handing environmental groups a victory and dealing a major blow to one of the few such plants still being planned in Texas.

Controversy over a professor’s failure to disclose financial ties to a drilling company while leading an academic study has erupted at the University of Texas at Austin. The professor, Dr. Charles “Chip” Groat, has called the charges unfounded and overblown.

A University of Texas at Austin professor who led a report that denied a link between fracking and groundwater contamination has come under scrutiny for not disclosing financial ties to the oil and gas industry.

A surge in oil and gas production has been a boon for the state’s economy, but it has come at the expense of the safety of oilfield workers, who not only face physical injury but also long-term health issues like fibrotic lung disease.

The 2011 drought wreaked havoc on the state’s trees, but according to a new report, few of them died directly from dehydration. Rather, trees weakened by the drought likely fell prey to a different culprit: diseases and insects.

Two smokestacks in El Paso — remnants of the smelting company ASARCO — remind many residents of a legacy of environmental damage. But to a local group, the stacks, now slated for demolition, are landmarks worth saving.