Texas

Energy and Environment Reporting for Texas

Latest Posts

What Can Texas Do About Roads Damaged by Drilling?

The Texas Department of Transportation gave an update Wednesday on their current measures to repair damaged rural roads in the Eagle Ford Shale. During a Texas Senate Transportation Committee on Transportation hearing, TxDOT highlighted a $500-million solution enacted by the state to rehabilitate damaged roads linked to heavy oil and gas related traffic in the […]

Austin’s Rapid Bus Struggles After a Slow Start

Standing on Guadalupe Street in Austin facing the tower at the University of Texas, 26-year-old Emily Mandell waits at the bus stop with a scowl on her face. She’s not looking forward to this ride. “It’s the same as sitting in traffic, but now you’re sitting in traffic stopping at a lot of places with […]

More Refining and Bigger Ships Stress Sabine-Neches Waterway

From Houston Public Media:  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are calling attention to the country’s aging roads, bridges, and shipping channels. It’s Infrastructure Week, an annual event that looks at how the economy is affected when facilities aren’t properly maintained. Maintenance is a big issue right now on the Sabine-Neches Waterway. It may not […]

Trickle Down: Counties Say Oil Money for Roads Not Enough

In what were some of the poorer counties in Texas, a surge in oil & gas drilling has set local economies on fire. But at the same time, officials have made dire pleas for help, saying the drilling boom is destroying roads and leading to deadly crashes. The Associated Press found that while traffic deaths […]

A New Boom for Oil, but a Bust for State’s Rural Roads

From the Texas Tribune:  COTULLA — At a convention center in this city 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, Dimmit County Judge Francisco Ponce said this week what many of the 200 people in the room were thinking. Texas Department of Transportation officials explained why the agency needed to move forward with plans to […]

Who Opposes Native Seed Bills? Native Seed Sellers

A few individuals from around Texas took the opportunity to travel to the Capitol and speak out against two native seed bills at the House Livestock and Agriculture Committee meeting Wednesday. And those who kindly opposed the legislation were native seed distributors themselves. While the distributors were glad the state government is championing the native […]

Lawmakers Propose Fixes For Roads Damaged By Drilling

This legislative session lawmakers are considering various ways to manage the oil and gas drilling boom, from reducing tax breaks to encouraging less water use. And at a conversation with several lawmakers hosted by StateImpact Texas Tuesday night, there was bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done on one issue in particular. Fracking can […]

About StateImpact

StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives.
Learn More »

Economy
Education