Tracking the players in the ever-growing energy and environmental world.
It took years to reach a final decision, but on Wednesday the Dallas City Council denied several permits for a company hoping to drill within city limits. The company, Trinity East, had applied to drill and use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” at several wells on city land, including a golf course. While the permits were […]
When your neighbors process millions of barrels of crude oil, you notice when things aren’t going right. “There has been some increase in flaring incidents, because whenever you shut down they have to flare to let off certain gases,” said Hilton Kelley. He lives in Port Arthur and years ago he led community activists in […]
A new study shows yet another link between oil and gas drilling and manmade earthquakes in Texas. The report, by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, says that a recent string of quakes in the Eagle Ford Shale formation of South Texas are mostly a result of oil and gas drilling. “The question […]
For years now, Texas has tried to block Federal air pollution laws, contending they stifle economic growth. But just last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed another lawsuit to force power plants in northeast Texas to reduce toxic air emissions. As the battle continues over how clean the air in Texas should be and […]
Texas is oil country. It leads the nation in oil production, and would be one of the top oil-producing nations if it were its own country. This map illustrates those points by breaking down Texas’ oil production by county. The data for the map comes from the Texas Railroad Commission’s data query feature. This particular data […]
Texas holds about 23 percent of the country’s natural gas reserves. And thanks in large part to the advent of drilling techniques like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” Texas is producing more of it than any other state. This map shows how much natural gas each county produced from wells between June 2012 and June […]
Drive west from Austin or Dallas-Fort Worth towards cities like Midland, Amarillo, or El Paso, and you’re bound to see your share of wind turbines dotting the landscape. That’s because Texas leads the nation in wind capacity, and more wind farms are on the way. That’s reflected in this map, which shows each county’s annual wind […]
With Plenty of Turbines and Pumpjacks Along the Way Over a thousand miles later, StateImpact Texas has returned from our first “Road Show,” a journey that took us from Austin to Midland-Odessa, then to Marfa, and back. Along the way, we heard stories of the drought, the drilling boom, and what everyday Texans think about […]
StateImpact Texas hit the road this week to talk to communities in West Texas about the impacts of drilling and the drought. On Tuesday, we spent the day in Midland, talking to locals, oil field workers and new arrivals about how a massive uptick in drilling is changing the community. We also held a community […]
The drilling processes of hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — and horizontal drilling have made it possible to access previously unreachable deposits of fossil fuels, creating a surge in domestic oil and natural gas production. So why are prices at the gas pump still relatively high? (Last week, the average national gas price was $3.68 per gallon.) We […]
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