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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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May 22, 2014

How Drug Smugglers Are Taking Advantage of the Texas Oil Boom

From KUT News:  While fracking for oil along the Texas border has become a big business for petrol companies, a new entity seeks to tap into the lucrative market – drug smugglers. As infrastructure and activity increases to meet the demand of the booming industry, drug smugglers are starting to take advantage of the new roads […]

May 15, 2014

More Refining and Bigger Ships Stress Sabine-Neches Waterway

From Houston Public Media:  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are calling attention to the country’s aging roads, bridges, and shipping channels. It’s Infrastructure Week, an annual event that looks at how the economy is affected when facilities aren’t properly maintained. Maintenance is a big issue right now on the Sabine-Neches Waterway. It may not […]

May 12, 2014

Here Are 9 Studies Linking Quakes and Drilling Activity in Texas

These can be shaky times for Texas. The number of recorded earthquakes (most larger than 3.0) has increased tenfold since a drilling boom began several years ago. The Lone Star State is now one of the shakiest in the country, coming in sixth in the continuous U.S. for having larger quakes last year, according to EnergyWire. […]

May 9, 2014

There’s Been Hundreds of Small Quakes in North Texas Since December

SMU From the SMU progress report: “Preliminary earthquakes locations near Reno-Azle using the current seismic network. Events are scaled by magnitude and color coded by time of event. Two Salt Water Disposal Wells (SWD wells) that occur within a few kms of the earthquake sequence are shown.” North Texas is no longer a place you […]

May 7, 2014

Harris County Urges EPA To Order Cleanup Of Dioxin Pits

From Houston Public Media:  The Harris County Attorney is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to order the cleanup of a local Superfund site. Tuesday, Vince Ryan formally made the request for the agency to force the companies responsible for pulling the San Jacinto River to remove the worst-contaminated soil. If you’ve ever driven across the San […]

May 5, 2014

Lawsuit Highlights Concern Over Air Quality and Shale Drilling

When a Dallas jury awarded three million dollars to a North Texas family in their case against a drilling company, people wondered what it could mean for fracking and its opponents. But the case also highlights a growing health concern in Texas’ booming oil and gas fields. For years, a lot of the debate around the drilling […]

May 2, 2014

OTC Offshore Conference Ain’t Just About Oil and Gas

Tens of thousands of folks from the offshore drilling industry will gather in Houston starting Monday for the massive, week-long Offshore Technology Conference, aka OTC. Since 1969, the conference has been a hotspot for offshore oil and gas technology. Think of it as SXSW for offshore drilling. But it’s not all fossil fuels grabbing attention. […]

What a Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Could Mean for Fracking and Its Opponents

When a Dallas jury awarded a North Texas family $3 million for damages from natural gas drilling near their property last week, the Internet went wild. Opponents of hydraulic fracturing called it a landmark, a game changer, the first “anti-fracking” lawsuit to result in a jury award. In truth, the case involved not just fracking, but all the […]

May 1, 2014

Air Quality Watchdog Worried About Proposed TCEQ Standard Change

From Houston Public Media:  There are more than 100 metal recycling plants in Houston, several of them in the East End along the ship channel. Rod Gonzalez lives in the Magnolia Park neighborhood, not too far from some of them. He just moved here three months ago from south Texas, and he said Houston’s air feels […]

April 30, 2014

Sierra Club Worried about Precedent from Nuclear Waste Site Ruling

From KXWT: A state appeals court has again upheld a radioactive waste license for a storage site in Andrews County. The site is owned and operated by Waste Control Specialists, and it’s been at the middle of a series of legal challenges from the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. We recently spoke with the Sierra Club’s Conservation Director Cyrus Reed, who […]

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