Tracking the players in the ever-growing energy and environmental world.
Prosecutor finds plenty of environmental violations in Texas, few resources to prosecute.
As a drilling boom continues in Texas and other states, the U.S. finds itself with so much natural gas that some companies now want to export domestic fuels abroad. Today, the federal Department of Energy (DOE) announced approval of a second facility, the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, to export natural gas in liquid […]
Update: The State Fire Marshal’s Office says that there are now two investigations, one into the origin and cause of the fire, led by their office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF); and one into any potential criminal activity, spurred by the arrest of West paramedic Bryce Reed for possession of a “destructive device” earlier […]
From the Texas Tribune: The impact of the recent boom in shale drilling is hard to miss in some remote Texas towns, where hotels and homebuilders scramble to keep up with the influx of oil and gas workers. But the most significant effect from the boom may be seen in the state’s coffers. Taxes on oil […]
From the Texas Tribune: SWEETWATER — About a year ago, talk began circulating in this West Texas town about a huge oil-producing formation called the Cline Shale, east of the traditional drilling areas around Midland. Then the oilmen and their rigs arrived. Now homes and hotels are sprouting, “help wanted” signs have multiplied, and a […]
Firefighters, public officials and thousands of Texans gathered in Waco Yesterday at Baylor University for a memorial service to remember twelve firefighters and first responders that died in the line of duty while responding to a fire at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West last week. While fighting the fire, the plant exploded, […]
From the Texas Tribune: Four months after a fire in January, one of Texas’ four nuclear reactor units is being restarted, bringing to an end the unit’s second prolonged shutdown in two years. “We’re bringing the unit back up,” said Buddy Eller, a spokesman for the South Texas Project, the enormous Bay City nuclear plant […]
The disaster brings up questions about regulation in the state and whether Texans should be living so close to industry.
After an explosion in the small town of West, Texas Wednesday night, some 14 are dead and 200 injured. The incident has displaced a number of people in the small Central Texas community, and questions have risen about the safety and regulation of the plant. KUT photographers Filipa Rodrigues and Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon traveled to the […]
Reported by the KUT News Staff with Terrence Henry: Read the new story: After West Fertilizer Explosion, Concerns Over Safety, Regulation and Zoning Update:Â As of 3 pm Saturday, some residents of West, the site of a major explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday, will be allowed back into their homes in part of the severely […]
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