Tracking the players in the ever-growing energy and environmental world.
Anniversaries are horrible things to forget, so here’s one that you might have let slip by. This month marks ten years of de-regulation in the Texas electricity market. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for rate payers since then, according to one new study. A typical electric customer paid $3,000 in added costs over […]
An accident at the plant means one thing for its operators, who might prefer that the information stays secret. But what does it mean for the state of Texas?
Drilling is creating a gusher of jobs in South Texas, but trucks are ripping up roads and large amounts of water are being used. A look at the ups and downs of the fracking boom.
On Thursday night a fire and explosion rocked a disposal well near Pearsall, Texas in the Eagle Ford Shale. This afternoon the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling in the state. sent the following statement to StateImpact Texas : “A Railroad Commission inspector responded around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, to a storage tank fire at a saltwater […]
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is extending the period for public comment on its investigation of water contamination linked to fracking in Wyoming. The report was released in draft form in December and drew attention across the country, especially in Texas. It was the first time the EPA had linked fracking […]
You can read our follow-up reporting on this story here. April 25, 2012 UPDATE: This week OSHA issued ten citations for “serious violations” by High Roller Wells, which operates the disposal well. You can read more about those citations here. Three people have been injured after an explosion and fire at a disposal well in […]
A month after drawing a link between fracking and water contamination in Wyoming, the EPA has found arsenic, barÂium and other “hazÂardous subÂstances” in the priÂvate water wells of four homes in Dimock, SusqueÂhanna County, our fellow StateImpacters in Pennsylvania report. While the chemicals were not “definitively linked to recent gas drilling,” they write, the EPA says they […]
Why is there such little interest from the public about new drilling leases in the Gulf?
A request for a tax refund by the Valero Energy Corporation, one of the world’s largest oil refiners, was rejected by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) just before Christmas. Valero asked for the money under a state law that says companies don’t have to pay taxes on equipment that reduces on-site pollution. This […]
The Environmental Protection Agency has released a new interactive map today that allows you to explore greenhouse gas emissions throughout the country for 2010. Here’s a snapshot of Texas that links to the map: Clusters of Greenhouse Gas Emitters in Texas (Map by EPA)Â The largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the state for that […]
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