As we wrap up our first full year here at StateImpact Texas, we thought it’d be fun to take a look back at your favorite stories from the year. The list is a hodgepodge of articles, dealing with some of the big issues of energy and the environment in the state this year: fracking, the […]

Texas Lawmakers have already filed more than 400 bills for the upcoming legislative session. Only a fraction of those will end up making it to a vote.  But before the session begins, we thought it might be worthwhile to take a look at some environment and energy proposals. Lon Burnam is state representative from Fort […]

Chances may be better this time that the Texas legislature might strengthen regulation of oil and gas drilling

The US Geological Survey recorded a small 2.6 magnitude earthquake east of Burleson,Texas earlier tonight.

Former University of Texas at Austin Professor Charles “Chip” Groat is ready to move on from a controversy about failing to disclose a conflict of interest while at the University. “I will leave this unpleasant episode behind me,” he wrote us in an email last week. Groat is retiring early from UT and moving to […]

There’s already a general scientific consensus that the disposal wells used to store waste deep underground from drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) can cause earthquakes. But researchers are going into a little more detail about the relationship between quakes and wells at this week’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union. At a panel discussion Wednesday, three […]

One of the few coal power plants still being planned in Texas is facing setbacks. The controversial White Stallion Energy Center in Matagorda County had been working with the Texas grid to examine how it will work once its completed, a process called a grid interconnection study. It’s a typical requirement for new power plants, along […]

Yes, Midland is the second-weatlhiest metro area in the country (measuring personal income per capita in 2011), according to new data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Over on the East Coast, though, that ranking raised some eyebrows. That’s where The Atlantic‘s Derek Thompson was at first surprised to see Midland ahead of Washington, DC […]

Update: Read about the Dec. 12 quake outside of Fort Worth here.  Another small earthquake struck outside of Fort Worth last night according to the US Geological Survey.  The quake was centered near Mansfield Texas, about 20 miles Southeast of Fort Worth. While it’s difficult to link any individual quake to a specific cause, North […]