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After Obama’s Re-Election, What’s Next for Energy and Environment Policy?
Some of these potential policies have big implications for the massive energy industry (and aging coal power plants) in Texas.
Why the Legislature May Target Drillers’ Overweight Trucks
Looking for ways to pay to rebuild roads damaged by thousands of trucks servicing oil and gas drilling, the Texas legislature will likely consider raising fees for overweight trucks when it convenes in January. “The fees we are collecting today just are not sufficient to compensate for the increased consumption of pavement and bridges,” John […]
All About the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
The Texas Department of Transportation regulates all things road related and then some. The department’s been around since 1917, and over the years, it’s taken aviation, railways, and public transportation under its wings. In the upcoming legislative session, the department has to tackle some challenges: primarily, what to do about fracking-damaged roads.
State Regulators Stuck Using Outdated Computers as Drilling Surges
With fracking and improved technology, oil and gas drilling is surging in parts of Texas. But the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) that regulates the industry has computers that can’t keep up. “We have a lot of technology in our industry and the agency that oversees us needs to be up to par with us,” […]
Some Good News For the Texas Grid: We’ve Got a Few More Years Until Things Get Dicey
Texas may have some more time before its electric grid gets stretched to the point of blackouts. An updated forecast from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) today says that after the announcement of several new power projects and some other revisions, the outlook for keeping the lights on over the next few years is […]
Will Texas Taxes Pay for Damaged Counties in Eagle Ford?
Hearing some officials talk about the oil boom in South Texas, you’d think the streets were paved with gold. Yet the reality is the pavement is almost gone in some spots, ripped up by thousands of heavy trucks servicing oil drilling rigs. Some county leaders say the millions of tax dollars that could help fix […]
Another Earthquake Strikes Near Dallas-Fort Worth
Another earthquake has struck in an area that up until a few years ago had been seismically silent.
How Abandoned Wells Can Cause Explosions and Contamination
Abandoned wells in Pennsylvania are putting landowners at risk for drilling-induced explosions and water contamination, according to a new investigative series by our fellow StateImpact reporters in Pennsylvania. After a methane geyser erupted in the Pennsylvania countryside last year, StateImpact Pennsylvania is now looking into the dangers of abandoned, aka “orphaned,” wells in their Perilous […]
UT Gasses Up for New Methane Study
The University of Texas at Austin is wrapping up the final stages of a new study that looks at how much methane is released during the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Understanding how much methane is released is important to decreasing emissions overall, as methane is a known ‘greenhouse gas’ that contributes to […]
Why Less Coal in Texas Could Mean More Water For a Thirsty State
As Texas moves away from coal and towards natural gas for its power plants, it stands to save billions of gallons of water in the process, according to a new study by the University of Texas at Austin’s Webber Energy Group. And in planning for the future, switching to gas will save even more. You can […]