Tracking the players in the ever-growing energy and environmental world.
As we’ve been chronicling over the past few months, Texas is in a bit of a bind when it comes to power. There are more and more people, and fewer and fewer power plants. While natural gas prices stay low, that means power companies in Texas have to charge less (here’s a good explainer on […]
Texas has earned the unfortunate distinction of being among the worst polluting states in the country when it comes to electricity generation. That’s according to a new report out from the environmental group National Resources Defense Council. Texas was ranked tenth among states that released the most toxic emissions from power plants in 2010, and first […]
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” involves sending an awful lot of stuff into the ground. A new report by the Dallas Morning News examines just how much stuff is needed, and what exactly is in it. Dallas’ City Council is currently considering regulation of fracking within city limits, so the Morning News decided to learn what […]
The fear is that the enormous increase in oil and gas well drilling, largely related to fracking, is releasing sizable amounts of gases. Among them, methane and volatile organic compounds like benzene.
If you live in the Barnett Shale around Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, you may have noticed the ground has become a bit shakier in the last few years.
Last winter’s poor performance, along with other factors, has created an unexpected positive. The June monthly Energy Review by the U.S. Energy Information Administration says that carbon dioxide emissions from energy use for the first quarter of 2012 were the lowest they’ve been in two decades. High demand for heat from fossil fuels usually pushes […]
Cooked books, pollution controls cobbled together with duct tape, and holes burned in the ceiling by ammonia and chloride. A furnace design from the 1800s. Arsenic and nickel sent into the air, less than a mile away from an elementary school. Pollutants pumped into the Brazos River. Those are just a few of the problems […]
Welcome to August, the month when we all keep a close eye on the Texas electrical grid. And it can be a difficult thing to keep an eye on. For instance, we temporarily lost up to 750 megawatts of power yesterday when a unit of Luminant’s Martin Lake coal-fired power plant shut down in Northeast […]
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860, “Annual Electric Generator Report.” Note: Capacity values represent net summer capacity. Earlier this month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that natural gas energy production finally tied with energy generated from coal in April. Now, that group is projecting that energy from coal-fired plants will likely contract […]
All that stands in the way of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline at this point are a few landowners. While the northern section of the pipeline from Canada to Oklahoma has hit some snags, the southern portion is now officially cleared to go ahead, according to the company. TransCanada, the company behind […]
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