Goods from around the world arrive at Union Pacifics Intermodal Terminal in the Inland Port.
Could South Dallas County become home to one of the world’s largest factories? Developers and local officials recently learned electric-car manufacturer Tesla is checking out an area known as the Inland Port as it considers where to build its battery plant.
The industrial development, 20 minutes south of downtown Dallas, can feel like a world away.
Less than a mile from Interstate 45, corn ripples in the hot summer breeze. Hay fields grow green with recent rain. Small homes — some of them vacant — dot the landscape.
Developer Mike Rader turns his Chevy SUV onto Pleasant Run Road, as he surveys property near the towns of Wilmer and Hutchins he began buying up 30 years ago. Continue Reading →
Wichita Falls could soon become the first in the country where half of the drinking water comes directly from wastewater.
Yes, that includes water from toilets. For some citizens, that’s a little tough to swallow.
Mayor Glenn Barham says three years of extreme drought have changed life for 104,000 people living in Wichita Falls, which is about 140 miles northwest of Dallas.
“(There’s) no outside irrigation whatsoever with potable water. Car washes are closed one day a week. If you drain your pool to do maintenance you aren’t allowed to fill it,” he explained.
The mayor says citizens are pitching in and have cut their city’s water use by more than one-third. Still, water supplies are still expected to run out in two years, which is why the city has built a 13-mile pipeline that connects its wastewater plant to the plant where water is purified for drinking.
That’s right: What residents flush down the toilet will be part of what’s cleaned up and sent back to them through the tap. Continue Reading →
East Texans opposed to the Marvin Nichols Reservoir testified Wednesday before the Texas Water Development Board.
The Texas Water Development Board will soon decide whether to continue planning for the controversial Marvin Nichols Reservoir or take it out of the state’s water plan.
The decision is just the latest in a battle that pits the thirsty Dallas-Fort Worth metro area against rural residents in East Texas.
On Wednesday, a bus carrying dozens of East Texas land and business owners traveled to Arlington for the last public hearing before the water board makes its decision.
Most have been battling for years to take the 70,000-acre Marvin Nichols Reservoir off the table as a future water supply. Continue Reading →
Citizens opposed to gas drilling in Dallas made their voices heard about Trinity East's plans during city meetings
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says a $30 million lawsuit filed Thursday by Trinity East Energy is the latest in a “game of poker.” The gas drilling company is suing the city, claiming it breached a contract that would have allowed it to drill on city property.
In 2008 Trinity East Energy paid the City of Dallas $19 million for the right to drill for natural gas on 3,600 acres in Northwest Dallas.
The Fort Worth company filed three zoning applications to drill but the city plan commission and the city council rejected the sites because two were located in a park and floodplain and a third was near a new soccer complex.
Trinity East’s President Stephen Fort says city officials including Former City Manager Mary Suhm assured his company it would be able to drill, then they broke their promise. Continue Reading →
State environmental commissioners have approved crucial permits for Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County.
The vote was historic, marking the first time since 1985 that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved the construction of a lake that would be a water supply.
Commissioner Toby Baker said the step forward comes at a pivotal time.
“Right now what we’re dealing with in the state of Texas is a population that is growing exponentially and a water supply that is remaining static, exacerbated by one of the worst droughts we have ever had,” Baker said. Continue Reading →
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