Where politics, government and energy intersect.
Standing in the construction site formerly known as Waterloo Park, you can get a sense for the enormity of a project to tunnel underneath downtown. It’s the northern entrance to the Waller Creek Tunnel, which is designed to prevent the usually slow-moving stream from flooding in a storm. When complete, it will be 30 feet […]
Three model cars sit side-by-side on the windowsill of Zach Baumer’s office in East Austin, memories of a childhood spent with his family at Indy 500 races. “Growing up in Indianapolis, I just have sort of a thing for cars,” he says. “Not that I think we should be driving single occupancy vehicles! But … […]
More than a hundred thousand visitors are descending upon Austin this weekend for the Formula One race. Increased air traffic has some worrying about the carbon footprint of the event, but there’s one plane that may seem out of place. It belongs to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and it will take to the skies […]
Rice farmers could be cut off for a second year in a row, or they could end up receiving water, potentially sending the Highland Lakes to historic low levels.
The ‘Golden State’ launches a massive initiative to go green today; a big coal company made some big campaign contributions before laying off workers; and some skepticism on how long the U.S. will hold the crown of ‘Oil King;’ plus more, in this morning’s Meter Reading: Sorry, I’m Going to Have to Let You Go […]
A new plan for emergency drought relief revealed this week has left many interests with a bad taste in their mouths.
We recently sat down with a panel of land experts at the Texas Tribune‘s Oct. 29 summit on water to discuss agriculture and state water management. The panel featured Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, David Langford of the Texas Wildlife Association and Laura Huffman of The Nature Conservancy of Texas. You can watch it in full […]
A criminal case about drilling waste disposal is raising questions about how state regulators are enforcing pollution laws.
What can the upcoming Texas legislature do about water, where will it find the funds if it decides to act? Those were some of the hot-button questions on tap at a recent Texas Tribune summit on water issues at Texas State University. Tribune Editor-In-Chief Evan Smith sat down with two state legislators, Rep. Allan Ritter (R-Nederland), chairman of the […]
Some of these potential policies have big implications for the massive energy industry (and aging coal power plants) in Texas.
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