In West Texas, the main concern is water. In cities like Houston and Fort Worth, clay soil is drying up because of the blistering summer heat, bursting water pipelines and splitting asphalt roads. Across Texas, the cause of these spiraling problems is the same: a nine-month drought that shows no signs of relenting.
Environment
Coverage of climate, conservation, natural resources, and environmental policy shaping the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Energy
Texas Comes Close to Rolling Blackouts
After more unabating triple-digit temperatures and continued skyrocketing power demand, the Texas electric grid operator warned of a “high probability” of rolling blackouts, although as of 5 p.m. the danger appeared to have abated.
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Energy
State Climatologist: Drought Officially Worst On Record
It’s official: Texas is now in the midst of the worst one-year drought on record, according to State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.
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Energy
Power Grid Still Struggling to Keep Up With Demand
Texas set another all-time record for electricity use on Wednesday, forcing the state’s grid operator to declare a power emergency. Matt Largey of KUT News reports on the state power grid’s struggle to keep up with the heat.
Posted in
Energy
ERCOT Rolling Out First Step of Emergency Procedures
As scorching temperatures continued and Texas electricity use reached another all-time high, the state grid operator initiated the first step of emergency procedures today, seeking power from other grids, including Mexico.
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Energy
High Temperatures Bring Call for Electricity Conservation
As the triple-digit temperatures stretch into August, Texas residents are blasting their air conditioners — and straining the electric grid with record demand. The grid operator is asking that residents and businesses cut down on their electricity use in the late afternoons all week.
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Energy
In Lubbock, the Evolution of Wind is on Display
Forests of enormous electric wind turbines now rise across West Texas — a far cry from the smaller, water-pumping windmills that covered the land a century ago. In Lubbock, a museum called the American Wind Power Center traces this change, juxtaposing old and new.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson examines the Texas jobs “miracle,” Root on how Rick Perry built his financial portfolio, Tan and Wiseman on Perry vs. Ron Paul, Philpott on how budget cuts will affect a mental health provider, yours truly on a House freshman who was less than impressed with his first legislative experience, M. Smith on public schools charging for things that used to be free, Hamilton on a new call to reinvent higher education, Grissom on a rare stay of execution, Galbraith on the end of a Panhandle wind program, Aguilar on the increase of legal immigration into the U.S. and Texas: The best of our best content from July 25 to 29, 2011.
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Energy
EPA Issues New Standards for Hydraulic Fracturing
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued new regulatory standards for oil and gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing.
Posted in
Energy
End of an Era for Panhandle Wind Program
As the Department of Agriculture focuses on biofuels, it is pulling out of wind and solar research. For the tiny Panhandle hamlet of Bushland, this means the end of a wind program that has operated for 35 years.