Where politics, government and energy intersect.
They’re in over 6 million Texas homes. But if you want to get rid of them, you’ll have to pony up. We’re talking about smart meters — advanced electricity meters that communicate wirelessly with the grid. They’ve spread rapidly across the state since 2005, when the state legislature passed a law to fund and encourage […]
Public Utility Commission Signals Move to Increase Reliability, Which Could Raise Prices; Anderson Calls Idea “Corporate Welfare” Meetings of the Texas Public Utility Commission are not a place you go to see fireworks. They usually deal with phone companies, transmission lines, and power generation. But it’s on that last subject where the conversation got a […]
Update: Prop 6 passed. Read the full story here. 2011 was the driest year in Texas’ recorded history — crops failed, herds were sold off and lakes and reservoirs literally went dry. Some communities, like Spicewood Beach in the Hill Country or Robert Lee in West Texas, had to scramble to find new water supplies. And in […]
This is part four of a series looking at the infrastructure of dams in Texas, and what can be done to improve it. You can find part one here, and part two here, and part three here. In a peaceful, wooded corner of Bastrop County, Texas sits one of the unluckiest dams in the state. In 2011 […]
FEMA urges residents to “ask questions.” In Texas, no one needs to answer.
This is part two of a series devoted to looking at the infrastructure of dams in Texas, and what can be done to improve it. You can find part one here and part three here. In 2008, the Texas State Auditor’s office released the kind of report that keeps public officials awake at night. It […]
This is part one of a StateImpact Texas series devoted to looking at the infrastructure of dams in Texas, and what can be done to improve it. Of the 1,880 dams inspected by the TCEQ since 2008, 245 were found to be in bad condition, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Around 2,000 […]
From The Texas Tribune The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is appealing a lawsuit that it has already won — and that was filed by children. Environmental advocates say the appeal shows that the state will go to any lengths to fight the suggestion that it address climate change. As part of a national environmental […]
After the West Fertilizer Plant explosion on April 17, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said that “the federal government isn’t doing enough right now” to address regulating industrial disasters. Now, thanks to the federal government shutdown, it’s doing even less. Senator Boxer, who is the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, held a […]
Research engineers say they’re finding that giant storage tanks for petrochemicals and petroleum are vulnerable to damage from tropical storms despite the tanks’ massive size and steel construction. The researchers found multiple cases of flood waters and high winds causing the tanks to float, buckle and rupture. What the scientists say they didn’t find were […]
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