Terrence Henry reports on energy and the environment for StateImpact Texas. His radio, print and television work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, NPR, The Texas Tribune, The History Channel and other outlets.
He has previously worked at The Washington Post and The Atlantic. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University.
This map shows the historic probability of a "White Christmas" across the U.S.
The winter weather came a little too early for Texas this year.
Just a few weeks ago, an ice storm knocked out power for over 800,000 people in North Texas. But the forecasts are saying pretty much all of Texas has a practically zero chance for a “White Christmas” this year.
Forecasting from historical records, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration puts the chance of a White Christmas for almost all of Texas at between zero and 10 percent. (In small parts of the Panhandle, your odds are only slightly better: between an 11 and 25 percent chance of a White Christmas.) NOAA defines a White Christmas as “at least 1 inch of snow on the ground” on December 25.
But there’s still time to book a plane ticket if you must have snow this year. According to NOAA, these are the places to go: Continue Reading →
Two trees couldn't withstand the storm in this backyard near Lower Greenville in Dallas. They tore apart a fence and damaged a roof and tore down a power line.
Against the backdrop of a debate over whether Texas has enough power generation (i.e. power plants) to meet growing demand, two instances of large-scale outages in the past few weeks show a more common vulnerability: power lost to fallen or damaged power lines during storms. Could anything have been done to prevent the outages? The short answer is yes. But chances are you won’t like the full explanation.
An ice storm in Dallas a little over a week ago left over two hundred thousand people without power for days, in sub-freezing temperatures. “We do have a power system that’s primarily based in Texas on overhead distribution lines. And those distribution lines are very vulnerable to weather related events,” says B. Don Russell, Electrical and Engineering professor at Texas A&M University.
Russell says that overall, the U.S. – and in particular Texas – has a very reliable power system. Even during ice storms, power plants can typically stay up and running. (With a few exceptions, like the statewide blackouts of 2011.) But the lines that take the power to people can run into issues. And their number one obstacle?
“The big issue is trees,” says Russell. That’s right. Our leafy friends that give us shade and filter the air? They don’t get along very well with power lines. Continue Reading →
The latest drought monitors and forecasts for Texas are a study in contrast. Take a look at the U.S. Drought Monitor Map for the state and you might feel like jumping for joy: large swaths of the state are drought-free. Less than one percent of the state is in the worst stage of drought. During the peak of the drought in October 2011, that figure was at 88 percent. The drought map hasn’t looked this good since early December 2010:
But dig a little deeper and examine the state of reservoirs in Texas and you’ll see a different story. (The Drought Monitor Map tracks soil moisture, not reservoir levels.) Overall, the state’s reservoirs are only 63 percent full, according to data from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). In the western half of the state, many are empty are empty or near-empty. Continue Reading →
The Keystone XL pipeline could start full operations in early January. Over the next few weeks, millions of barrels of oil will be sent through it as part of final testing.
The Keystone XL pipeline has come to Texas. The controversial project that will bring heavy oil mined from sand pits in Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast has been waiting on presidential approval for years. But in the meantime, the company has gone ahead and built the stretch of pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas.
On Saturday morning, TransCanada, the Calgary-based company behind the project, put the first barrels of oil into the pipeline. It’s part of a testing phase expected to last several weeks. Over that time, some three million barrels of oil will flow through the pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas to prepare for a full launch, which could come in early January.
“We are not going to be in a position to provide an update on when the Gulf Coast Project will go into commercial service,” says TransCanada spokesperson Shawn Howard. “We have provided general guidance to our customers, based on the contracts we have in place with them.” Continue Reading →
After 20 earthquakes in a month, will state regulators respond?
State Oil and Gas Regulator Says No Changes Needed After Latest Earthquake Swarm
After twenty minor earthquakes in a month, residents in the small towns of Azle and Springtown outside of Fort Worth are understandably confused about why their once-stable region is now trembling on a near-daily basis.
Teachers in the Azle school district are taking a page from the California playbook and holding earthquake drills for students. Inspectors are making regular visits to the earthen Eagle Mountain Lake dam, as well as others in the area, checking for damage. (So far they’ve found none.) And locals like Rebecca Williams are constantly looking at their own homes for damage. So far she’s found cracks in her home, driveway and in a retaining wall in her backyard.
The quakes have been small, below the threshold that is known to cause significant damage. But they’ve unnerved residents like Williams, who moved out to Eagle Mountain Lake looking for some peace and quiet.
“You can actually see my house rocking from side to side,” Williams says. She was at home when the largest of the quakes (magnitude 3.6) struck on the evening of November 19th. “I tried to get up and run downstairs,” she says. “And for a moment, I couldn’t run, because the house was shaking so bad!”
A map of recent earthquakes (in red) and oil and gas wastewater disposal wells outside of Fort Worth. Active disposal wells are in green; inactive wells are in yellow. Map by Michael Marks/Terrence Henry
UPDATE: Another earthquake, magnitude 2.7, hit two miles north of Azle, Texas at approximately 9:44 Tuesday morning the 3rd of December according to the United States Geological Survey.
Another earthquake struck near the town of Azle just after midnight Friday, measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale. It was the 17th quake in the area around Eagle Mountain Lake (northwest of Fort Worth) in November, the largest a 3.6. No injuries have been reported from the quakes, but one local tells StateImpact Texas that the quakes are causing damage to homes and unnerving residents.
“It has damaged my house, my driveway is cracking down the driveway,” says Rebecca Williams of Azle. Cracks have also appeared on the outside of her home and in a retaining wall in her backyard. “When these [earthquakes] happen, my whole house shakes,” she says.
What’s behind the tremors? The area is not known for its seismic activity, but does have several wells used for disposing of wastewater from oil and gas drilling. Water used during the fracking process, as well as water that comes back up the well with oil and gas deposits, is typically disposed of by injecting it deep underground into wastewater wells. Those disposal wells, often located a mile or deeper underground, have been known to cause earthquakes in other parts of Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as other states like Oklahoma, Arkansas and Ohio. And they are the likely culprit here, says Ken Morgan, Director of the Energy Institute at Texas Christian University. Continue Reading →
How much energy does it take to get you to Thanksgiving dinner and get dinner on the table in the first place?
Pie. Planes. Political arguments at the family table. It all takes energy – but how much exactly?
As the busiest travel days of the year intersect with back-to-back days of excess consumption and consumerism, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the energy impact of Thanksgiving.
Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, is just the person to do that. He put together a look at the carbon imprint of Thanksgiving, and what he found will likely bring you down a bit. Sure, there are those flights and car trips that require fuel, but there’s also the massive amount of energy needed to get all that food on the table.
Take a listen:
Disclosure: The Energy Institute has been a sponsor of StateImpact Texas.
Sarah Lucas, of Ennis, Texas, guides her European Cross Steer to the Steer Show in the snow at Fort Worth Stock Show, Friday, February 4, 2011, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Texas is seeing its first real winter storm this weekend, and already parts of the Panhandle are seeing trace amounts of snow.
Snow is welcome precipitation for a part of the state that is still struggling with extreme drought. But it takes a lot of snow to have the same effect as just a small amount of rain.
Light dusting of snow at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Panhandle
“In general, one inch of snow is the equivalent about .10 inch of rain. So, ten inches of snow would be one inch of rain,” says Victor Murphy, Climate Program Manager with the National Weather Service Southern Region.
That 10:1 ratio means it would take an extraordinary amount of snowfall to provide real drought relief in the Panhandle. Big snow events in the past in the Panhandle rarely go above five inches, which would equal a half-inch of rain. A big snow season can total over 40 inches, i.e. just four inches of rainfall equivalent overall. But snow is not without its benefits. Continue Reading →
Now that Texas voters have given the green light to put serious money towards new water projects in the state, where do we go from here? How will projects get prioritized and funded? Will conservation be a properly-sized piece of the pie? What should we expect from state leaders going forward?
Those are just a few of the subjects on tap tonight at a forum at the University of Texas at Austin, ‘Water, Politics, and Drought: Remaking Texas Water Policy.’ The non-profit organization Texas Water Journal and UT’s Environmental Science Institute are putting together the event, which is free and open to the public:
A map of recent earthquakes (in red) and oil and gas wastewater disposal wells outside of Fort Worth. Active disposal wells are in green; inactive wells are in yellow. Map by Michael Marks/Terrence Henry
Ten  Seventeen* earthquakes in just a month, the biggest a magnitude 3.6. That’s what small towns like Azle and Springtown Northwest of Fort Worth have had to deal with recently. (*More quakes have struck Azle since this story was originally published: on November 21, 23, 25, 26 and 29. The Nov. 25 quake measured 3.3.)
The region is also home to several disposal wells, which are used to store massive amounts of wastewater from oil and gas drilling. In other parts of the Barnett Shale drilling area disposal wells have been linked to similar series of quakes. You can see where the quakes have occurred recently around the town of Azle, as well as active and inactive disposal wells in the region, in the map above. The quakes are in Tarrant and Parker counties.
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Now that Texas voters have given the green light to put serious money towards new water projects in the state, where do we go from here? How will projects get prioritized and funded? Will conservation be a properly-sized piece of the pie? What should we expect from state leaders going forward?