The manager of a West Texas farm on the oddities of crop insurance, why all the farmers near Lubbock want to grow cotton and why West Texans don’t believe in climate change despite the drought and weird weather.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Energy
Texas’ Burgeoning Poultry Industry Raises Pollution Concerns
Texas has become a major player in the growing poultry market, ranking sixth in the nation for chicken production. But as Dave Fehling of KUHF News reports for StateImpact Texas, the rise of “big chicken” has sparked some unexpected environmental concerns.
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Energy
Ken Kramer: The TT Interview
The outgoing director of the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club on the importance of water, the growth of the Club, and how he stumbled on his future career path while hiking near Fort Bliss.
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Economy
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson interactively maps Texas Medicaid providers, Aguilar talks legalization with the head of the Drug Policy Alliance, Galbraith on farmers watering what they know won’t grow, Grisson sits down with exoneree Michael Morton, Hamilton on the elusive $10,000 college degree, Murphy et al. update the 2012 election brackets, Ramsey on Bill Ratliff’s frank budget analysis, Ramshaw on a hospital where the overweight need not apply, Root on Joe Straus’ primary opponent and Tan rounds up reactions to the Supreme Court’s health care hearings: The best of our best content from March 26-30, 2012.
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Energy
EPA Withdraws Order Against Natural Gas Driller
The Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn an administrative order that charged Range Resources, a Fort Worth-based natural gas driller, with contaminating water wells.
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Energy
Isolated Texas Electric Grid Could Add Links
Texas’ electric grid prefers to stay isolated from the rest of the nation. But proposals are afoot to boost outside ties — something that proponents say could help ease the state’s looming electricity crunch.
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Energy
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 125
Reeve, Emily, Jay and Kate talk about a Texas hospital that won’t hire obese workers, Texas farmers watering crops that won’t grow, and the primary challenge for the Speaker of the Texas House.
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Energy
Texas Farmers Watered Crops, Knowing That They Wouldn’t Grow
By mid-summer last year, it was so hot and dry that many West Texas cotton farmers gave up hope of producing a crop. Yet they had to keep watering, pumping from diminishing aquifers like the Ogallala, to claim crop insurance.
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Energy
New EPA Rule May Spur Rush to Build Coal Plants in Texas
The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced rules limiting carbon pollution from new power plants nationwide. As Mose Buchele of KUT News reports for StateImpact Texas, plants may start scrambling to begin construction before the regulations take effect. Read the full story at StateImpact Texas.
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Energy
Series Looks at Drought, How Texans Are Coping
The PBS NewsHour, in partnership with StateImpact Texas, takes a look at how two Texas communities are dealing with the Texas drought.