Where politics, government and energy intersect.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has begun the process to begin issuing air pollution permits for industrial plants that emit greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The permits will be based on new rules put in effect in 2011 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to research on global warming. It’s probably […]
Against the backdrop of a debate over whether Texas has enough power generation (i.e. power plants) to meet growing demand, two instances of large-scale outages in the past few weeks show a more common vulnerability: power lost to fallen or damaged power lines during storms.Ā Could anything have been done to prevent the outages? The short […]
From KERA News: The Dallas City Council passed a new, more restrictive gas drilling ordinance this afternoon. It includes a 1,500-foot setback from homes, businesses, schools and other so-called protected uses. An 11th hour amendment was approved that requires a tougher two-thirds majority council vote to reduce the setback. The council approved the ordinance 9-6, […]
A lot of people who walk or drive past Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin probably assume itās a natural feature. They appreciate the trails and parks that line the lake’s 416 acres, unaware of the series of floodgates on the Longhorn Dam that hold its waters in. But recent flooding along the waterway has […]
Railroad Commission, The State’s Oil and Gas Regulator, Says No Changes Needed After Latest Earthquake Swarm
When it comes to spectator sports, it might not rank with college football in Texas. But when a state senate committee held a hearing last week to figure out if somethingĀ is wrong with the stateās deregulated market for electricity, people far from Texas were glued to their computers, watching the hearing live over the […]
Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images The Public Utility Commission of Texas is proposing a change to the way the stateās electricity market is run. AndĀ some lawmakers voiced concerns during a public hearing at the Capitol yesterday. The Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee hosted a hearing to question the Public Utility Commission, or PUC,Ā about the possible […]
For state parks in Texas, the struggle has always been money. In the early 1900s, Texas landowners tried to donate large tracts of property to create state parks. But they were turned down by state lawmakers Ā — they didnāt want to fund the maintenance cost. So when the land was accepted, it was without the […]
Now that Texas voters have given the green light to put serious money towards new water projects in the state, where do we go from here? How will projects get prioritized and funded? Will conservation be a properly-sized piece of the pie? What should we expect from state leaders going forward? Those are just a […]
It’s been three weeks since a flood swept through Richard Rivera’s Austin, Texas home. There’s still a dead car, washed up by the waters, deposited on his front yard. A crack has formed on his concrete driveway. A result, he says, of the deluge. He doesn’t know where his air conditioning unit floated off to. […]
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