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Energy and Environment Reporting for Texas

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Tracking the players in the ever-growing energy and environmental world.

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July 6, 2012

While Profits Are Up in the Eagle Ford Shale, So is Road Damage

The Eagle Ford shaleā€™s development in Texas is growing stronger from increasing production, as crude oil growth overtakes natural gas production. And with more production comes more profitability,Ā accordingĀ to a new report by GlobalData, a business research company. The shaleā€™s liquid production has increased nearly sixfold, going from 10.8 million barrels of oil in 2010 to […]

July 5, 2012

Inside an Oil Empire: A Conversation with Steve Coll on ExxonMobil

Steve Coll has traveled the world reporting on nuclear weapons, the CIA, and terrorists in the Middle East for The New Yorker and Washington Post. But he may have found his biggest reporting challenge yet right here in Texas. In his new book, ā€˜Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power,ā€™ Coll takes a close look at […]

July 2, 2012

At House Hearing, Water Issues Dominate

When water became scarce in Texas last year, scrutiny quickly fell on the state’s burgeoning energy industry. Proposed new coal plantsĀ had trouble getting water permits. And hydraulic fracturing drillers faced accusations of groundwater contaminationĀ and excessive water use. But at the House joint hearing on energy and natural resources held last Wednesday, industry leaders gave representatives […]

June 27, 2012

As Drilling Operations Continue, Texas Roads Suffer

According to the Texas Department of Transportation it takes nearly1,200 trucks to bring a gas well into production. TxDOT says those trucks do damage to roads equal to nearly 8 million cars. That’s a lot of wear and tear. So it makes sense that the state of Texas roads would get some attention during the […]

June 26, 2012

ERCOT Expects Threat to Grid to Lessen

So far, so good as 100+ degree temperatures blanket much of Texas, stressing the ability of power plants to keep millions of air conditioners running.The manager of the statewide grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), said while the system was stressed with the second day of triple digit temperatures and there was concern […]

June 22, 2012

With Extreme Weather Coming, ERCOT Says They’re Ready

Temperatures breaching the low 100s are expected to hit all around the state early next week, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). By Monday, the high in the Dallas-Fort Worth area should be about 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. ā€œThis is exactly the season that the generators have been […]

June 19, 2012

How Falling Oil Prices Impact Texas: An Interview with Robert Dye

Tomorrow, 38 million acres of offshore drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico will go on sale. Drillers are clamoring for the rights, but lurking in the background is a question: What happens if oil prices keep going down? Just months ago, everyone was trying to figure out why prices were rising so high. But […]

The Texas Grid: There’s an App for That

This morning I went to the iPhone’s App Store and downloaded the new mobile appĀ from ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the Texas grid.Ā It’s free, and we’re grid junkies here at StateImpact Texas, so why not take it for a spin? So how’s the app? It’s okay. Much of the content is […]

June 8, 2012
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