Four months after a fire shut it down, a nuclear reactor at the South Texas Project in Bay City is being restarted. That is the second prolonged shutdown at the plant in two years, prompting critics to demand closer scrutiny of the operation.
Four months after a fire in January, one of Texasâ four nuclear reactor units is being restarted, bringing to an end the unit’s second prolonged shutdown in two years.
âWeâre bringing the unit back up,â said Buddy Eller, a spokesman for the South Texas Project, the enormous Bay City nuclear plant where the problems have occurred. The 1,350-megawatt reactor unit, known as STP Unit 2, should be producing 100 percent power by sometime Tuesday, according to Eller, who spoke with the Tribune on Monday afternoon.
The fire in January occurred at a transformer in the electrical switchyard outside the reactor. The fire was fueled by oil, lasted about 10 minutes and was immediately put out by the plantâs fire brigade, Eller said. Continue Reading →
A water fight between Texas and Oklahoma heads to the Supreme Court today.
The highest court in the land will hear about Texas’ water woes today. It will be the culmination of several years of litigation over Oklahoma water that Texas wants.
“Thereâs often been tension between Texas and Oklahoma. A dispute over the state boundary line dates back nearly 200 years. And for more than a century Texas and OU football teams have clashed in the Red River Rivalry. Tuesday, the latest skirmish goes before the U.S. Supreme Court when the State of Oklahoma and the Tarrant Regional Water District in Fort Worth argue over water rights.”
While the case attends to Texas and Oklahoma’s water war, the decision rendered could affect interstate water disputes beyond Texas and Oklahoma. Continue Reading →
State lawmakers will discuss whether to recognize the City of Garland at the cowboy hat capital of Texas this week.
Time is winding down at the State Legislature, but the pace is picking up.
We’ve put together a list of some important bills on energy and the environment up for discussion this week. They tackle the Railroad Commission, fracking, drought and more. But they aren’t all serious, a House committee will discuss a slew of honorifics as well.
(The bills are not listed in any particular order, and the list isnât meant to be comprehensive.)
Railroad Commission Name Change and MoreÂ
The Texas Railroad Commission’s misguiding name could change to the Texas Energy Resources Commission, if a bill, SB 212 by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, passes the legislature. The bill would also implement changes to the agency outlined in a 2011 Sunset review that didn’t pass last session, such as authorizing the commission to impose a fee for permitting pipelines to help pay for safety programs. The Senate Natural Resources Committee will discuss the bill Tuesday morning.
A flag is flown at half staff in West, Texas, near the scene of the fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in in the town of 2,8000 on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
It will take time to determine the exact cause of the fire and explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The disaster has cost at least 14 lives, caused 200 injuries and has destroyed at least 50 homes. The blast was so strong that it blew out windows for miles, and even registered as an earthquake. First responders said the aftermath looked like “a war zone.”
Yet even at this early stage of the investigation, there are signs that not all was right with the plant, like the fact that it had as much as 270 tons of ammonium nitrate (which can be explosive) at the site, but no sprinklers or fire barriers. Itâs also brought up questions about regulation in Texas, and whether homes and schools should be so close to industry. (State fire officials have said that there are no signs of criminal activity so far in the West explosion.)
âEverybody plays over there,” resident Deborah Waters tells StateImpact Texas. “That track that is right beside the intermediate school, normally at that time of day, there are 20 to 30 people walking the track.â Continue Reading →
As the drilling boom grows in parts of Texas, so has the demand for power, leading to an energy crunch. In this photo, Michael Stephens repairs a power line in South Memphis.
Texas is often called the energy capital of America, so it might come as a surprise that the oil and gas boom has substantially driven electric prices up in some parts of the state. And in those same areas, prices are expected to spike again this summer.
To understand why, it’s best to start with the small city of Seymour, which is somewhere between Wichita Falls and Abilene. Fewer than 3,000 people call it home.
âWe are a small West Texas Community that, like all West Texas communities, is struggling with every cent is important to us,” says John Studer, Seymour’s city manager.
The town of Seymour runs its own electric utility. It buys on the wholesale market and sells power to its citizens. Voters have control of their utility, and profits go to the city. Studer says it’s worked pretty well. Until last year when the electric bills started going up.
âEvery one that came in, it just kept progressively getting higher and then when you get one up for ten percent of your bill for congestion charges,” Studer explains. “It kind of takes your breath away.â Continue Reading →
A damaged vehicle is seen after an explosion at the fertilizer plant.
The deadly explosion ripped through the fertilizer plant late on April 13, injuring more than 200 people, destroying 50 homes and damaging other buildings.
A chemical trailer sits among the remains of the burning fertilizer plant in April 2013.
A vehicle is seen near the remains of a fertilizer plant burning after the explosion.
Maria Galvin cleans up broken glass in the front of her business.
Searchers in protective suits walk through the blast zone of the fertilizer plant that exploded.
Meghan Clontz of Oklahoma City travelled to the town of West to be with family members after the massive explosion in the town
A tattered flag on the rainy morning of Thursday, April 18, in West, Texas.
Police and rescue workers stand near a building which was left destroyed.
An aerial view shows investigators walking through the aftermath of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas April 18, 2013.
The apartment building where Darryl Garricks’ grandchildren were when the blast hit. The children are OK.
Residents of West gather for a candlelight vigil on Thursday, April 19.
A flag is flown at half staff in West, Texas, near the scene of the fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in in the town of 2,8000 on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
KUT photographers Filipa Rodrigues and Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon traveled to the town of West with StateImpact Texas to document the story. You can see their images, along with photos from wire services and state officials, in the gallery above.
Residents of the town of West, Texas, hold a candlelight vigil Thursday evening for those killed and injured in an explosion and fire at a fertilizer plant in the town.
Update: As of 3 pm Saturday, some residents of West, the site of a major explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday, will be allowed back into their homes in part of the severely damaged neighborhood in the North section of town. Residents 18 and over living in the area from Walnut street southward will be allowed to enter until 7 pm. From 7 pm to 7 am, the city will have a curfew, and residents will need to either stay in their homes or leave the neighborhood. North of that area, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek said at a press conference this afternoon, the city will work “as quickly as possible”to allow people back to their homes. More information for residents is available at the City of West’s website.
Some press reports earlier today said that there were still small fires at the site of the fertilizer plant. Vanek said that âEverything is safe. Itâs good. Weâre trying to get our people back in.â
“Safe, safe, safe,” Vanek repeated.
The number of fatalities remains 14, according to the Department of Public Safety.
A citizen complained to the TCEQ in 2006 of a strong ammonia smell coming from the West Fertilizer Co.
Fertilizer Co.The plant was built in 1962, before the federal government required such facilities to have federal air permit authorizations for certain chemicals. The plant did not receive the authorization until 2004.
In 2006, a citizen filed an official complaint with the TCEQ. The complaint said that the âammonia smell [was] very bad last night from Fertilizer Plant,â and that the smell  âlingered until after they went to bed.â The TCEQ investigated the plant and issued a violation because the plant had not gotten the required authorization. Continue Reading →
Perhaps itâs a reflection of the integral role that energy plays in American life, but energy has also played a big role in Hollywood — from the oilfields in ‘Giant’ to a nuclear time machine in âBack to the Futureâ.
A new television show premiering tonight takes a closer look at the connection. Associate Professor of Engineering and Deputy Director of the Energy Institute at University of Texas at Austin Michael Webber hosts âEnergy at the Movies,â an examination of how film has reflected the energy issues of our past, present, and even future. The show airs on Central Texas public television station KLRU at 9 p.m. tonight, and you can also watch it online.
Q: When you think about movies, energy isnât the first thing that comes to mind, but you say maybe it should be.
A: Well it turns out that energy shows up in the movies in a lot of ways. It shows up as a plot line, it shows up as a background context, as a motivation for characters. And we found a couple of hundred movies that have major energy elements in them in one way or another. And if you take all these elements and stitch them together over time, you get a pretty nice historical snapshot of energy in society. Continue Reading →
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