It’s crunch time at the Capitol, and legislators have precious little sand left in the hourglass to push bills out of committee. So you’ll see the pace pick up quite a bit in the coming weeks. We at StateImpact Texas have compiled a not-so-short list of important bills on energy and the environment to help […]

Right now, there’s a lot excitement over different shale formations across Texas and across the country. But along with excitement, there sometimes comes hype. First there was the Barnett near Fort Worth and Pennsylvania’s Marcellus. In South Texas you’ve got the Eagle Ford. North Dakota taps the Bakken. It seems like everywhere you look, drillers […]

Lawmakers had rocketed through more than a dozen bills before they arrived at Rep. Charlie Geren’s complex and controversial water bill, HB 1307. Then things slowed down at the House Natural Resources Committee meeting at the Capitol today. Other bills, including one that would expand the water supplies a waste disposal authority could tap and […]

Graph by EIA Carbon emissisions from power generation are down in the U.S., to their lowest levels in nearly twenty years, and Texas is partly to thank. A new analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that “energy-related” carbon emissions have been declining every year (with the exception of 2010) since 2007. That’s […]

It’s going to be a busy week at the Capitol for energy and environmental issues. We’ve culled a list of bills that could affect everything from the electrical meter on your house to radioactive waste disposal in West Texas. All of the meetings are open to the public, and you can always watch the House […]

Map by Ryan Murphy, Texas Tribune As the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has rapidly spread across Texas, so has the demand for disposal wells, where wastewater from oil and gas drilling is sent deep underground. In this new interactive map from Ryan Murphy of the Texas Tribune, you can see where […]

We’ve compiled a list of several important meetings coming up this week at the state legislature that could have an impact on Texas’ energy and environment. Find out when the lege will tackle new bills that could affect everything from the concrete casing on oil wells to space flights near the beach: Disposal Well Fee […]

As drilling rapidly expands, it’s changing small towns and communities for better and for worse.

From the Texas Tribune:  In an Austin warehouse, a four-year-old company called Omni Water Solutions is working on a way to recycle water used in hydraulic fracturing. Its technology involves a large container, dubbed a “Hippo,” that purifies water from oilfields via filters and other means. The scrubbed water could potentially be reused in the […]

Update, March 20, 2013: HB 1496, which would limit how cities could restrict or ban drilling and fracking, is scheduled for a hearing in the Land and Resource Management Committee Monday, March 25 at the Capitol. You can find the agenda here. Original Story, March 8, 2013: “Local control” is a term you hear a lot […]