Generations of Plainview residents worked at the plant. Aubrey Rivera, Aliva’s daughter, told her her mom she wanted to work there when she grew up.
Criselda Avila lost her job at the Cargill Beef Processing Plant in Plainview. Now she’s unsure what she’ll do and what will happen to the Southern Plains town she calls home.
Jose Amaya and his wife Zuzema have relatives who have already moved away.
Images of cows can be found on the street signs of downtown Plainview
Ruben and Riene Olivas worry what will happen to their business now that the plant has closed.
The streets of Plainview.
Statues of cattle can be found throughout town. A nod to the local importance of the industry.
Johnny Ray Muniz leaves his last shift at the Cargill Beef Processing Plant.
As Mayor Wendell Dunlap plans for the city’s recovery, “your prayers are appreciated,” he said.
A group picture taken the day the last cow came through the Cargill Plant.
The Cargill Excel Beef Processing plant in Plainview, Texas.
Irene and Ruben Olivas say the ripple effect of the plant closure threatens the bakery where they work.
By the time the cows arrived at Criselda Avila’s work station at the Cargill Excel Beef Processing Plant in Plainview, they had already been slaughtered, skinned and gutted. The carcasses came in hanging from a long chain that ran over the plant floor. They were divided up and divided again. Avila worked on skirt steaks.
âYou gotta spread it open and then cut the little skirt off, and then throw that on the table and then peeling and just trimming the fat off is what it was,” she remembered recently, sitting in her living room. “You know, fajitas.â
It was numbingly repetitive work. More than 4,500 cows went through the plant every day. So when Avila was done with one, there was always another behind it. Then, on the last day of January, she saw something she never expected to see.
Photo courtesy of Criselda Avila
A group picture taken the day the last cow came through the Cargill Plant.
“There were the last few cows, then the last cow was coming down the chain, and people there were just banging our hooks,” she said. “People started crying, like âoh my god this is the end of it.ââ
That was how the city of Plainview lost over 2,000 jobs. After years of drought, the U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1952. Cargill Meat Solutions, the company that owns the plant, says there are simply not enough cows in existence to keep the plant running. For years ranchers across Texas have been cutting back their herds in response to the historically dry weather, but this is the first time those cuts have reached up the supply chain, to hit the industrial heart of a Texas city. The plant closure could have wide sweeping ramifications across the region. Continue Reading →
If you drive west from Houston out Interstate 10, about the time you’ve gone 100 miles and reached the edge of the Eagle Ford Shale, you’ll begin noticing them: Big rigs and other assorted trucks. They’re heading to the oil and gas fields of South and West Texas. Some are loaded with tons of steel pipe, others with tanks and contraptions for mixing the concoctions used to drill and “frack” wells. Still others are full of high tech seismic devices.
The equipment is unique and expensive. And the crooks have noticed. Continue Reading →
GermĂĄn CurĂĄ, President of Tenaris North America, watched by Texas Gov. Rick Perry as he gives details on the new pipeline facility.
In response to the boom in oil and gas drilling in Texas and throughout the U.S., the world’s largest manufacturer of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry announced today that it plans to invest up to $1.5 billion dollars in a new manufacturing facility in Bay City, Texas.
“This will be a state of the art facility, devoted to the production of steel pipes” GermĂĄn CurĂĄ, President of Tenaris North America said in a press conference late this morning. “It will help meet the growing demands of the domestic energy industry particularly given the state of development of the shales, oil and gas, the resumption of deep water drilling in the gulf of Mexico.”
Texas Governor Rick Perry used the announcement as a opportunity to defend the Texas Enterprise Fund. That is a state fund used to attract business to Texas that has been singled out for cuts by state lawmakers. Perry said the offer of $6 million dollars from the fund had helped convince Tanaris to build the plant in Texas.
The company behind what would have been the last new coal power plant in Texas, called White Stallion, is no longer pursuing the project, the company announced Thursday.
The news marks a victory for opponents of coal in Texas, notably the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club, who have worked for years to oppose the White Stallion and other coal power projects in the state. At this point, there are no longer any major new traditional coal power plants planned in Texas. All of the new projects are primarily natural gas and wind power, with some solar.
In a Thursday morning press release and email announcing the coal project would not move forward, Randy Bird, Chief Operating Officer for White Stallion, said that the plant is being suspended because of litigation costs, potential federal regulations and the low prices of natural gas.
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama doubled down on his vision for renewable energy, calling for more wind and solar power.
In Texas, the Legislature is less enthusiastic.
As the session progresses, renewable energy advocates are bracing to defend critical policies that have helped Texas become the leading wind-power state. The ascendancy of the Tea Party, an abundance of cheap natural gas and tighter budgets have reduced the sway of the wind industry. Solar power advocates anticipate limited gains at best.
But Texasâs renewable energy push has âbeen eclipsed by the effect of fracking,â said Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, referring to the drilling technology that prompted the natural gas boom. Continue Reading →
At a commission meeting this morning, Pablos said that he had submitted his resignation this morning to Governor Rick Perry. Chair Donna Nelson then moved the commission into a planned closed session, noting to Pablos, “You kinda threw me with that.”
In a statement, Pablos did not offer a reason for his resignation, saying instead that “it has been a privilege and honor to serve the people of the Great State of Texas” and that “ensuring that Texas has a reliable supply of electricity has been a top priority for me.” He also noted that “ensuring universal access to telecommunication services on a state-wide basis has also been an important component of my work at the PUCT.”
Pablos’ resignation could be seen as a setback for advocates hoping to get more solar power on the Texas grid. Continue Reading →
In addition to the intensifying discussions of water infrastructure funding at the Capitol, an even more basic conversation is also getting under way: whether to restructure the Texas Water Development Board.
The board, created in 1957, is overseen by six part-time board members, who serve on a volunteer basis after being appointed by the governor. But state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, wants to change the structure to three full-time members, also appointed by the governor.
A flare burns in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.
The drilling process known as “frackingâ has opened up huge deposits of oil and gas in Texas and other parts of the country. Itâs brought plenty of jobs â and profits â to the state. But it also requires something Texas has in short supply â water. Now the issue has caught the eye of the Texas legislature.
At a joint meeting of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committees Wednesday, a large group of lawmakers got an earful on the subject, with a meeting that lasted hours. Most of the testimony came from folks in the oil and gas industry, like Corey Pomeroy with the Texas Oil and Gas Association, who downplayed how much water fracking needs.
âThe oil and gas industry accounts for less than once percent of Texasâ water in the exploration and production of oil and gas,” Pomeroy testified.
But under questioning by lawmakers, Pomeroy acknowledged that in certain locales, that percentage can be higher.
A young boy pushes his bicycle out of the Rio Grande after taking a swim with his family where New Mexico, Texas and Mexico all touch. Texas' conflicts with its neighbors over water have heated up during dry times.
As Texas begins a third year of drought, its conflicts over water with neighbors continue. One high-profile case against Oklahoma is on its way to the Supreme Court, Texas has filed a lawsuit against New Mexico, and is accusing Mexico of not sharing the water it should as well.
Hoping to bring a measure of calm to the water wars is State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who filed a bill Tuesday that would create the Southwestern States Water Commission, a state-level group to work with neighbors like Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma to secure water.
“The concept came up as we traveled around the state, about water that’s contiguous,” Larson says. “There’s an abundance of water that’s available that flows into the Gulf of Mexico, and no one’s capturing the economic benefit from it.” Continue Reading →
A footprint in the soft mud of the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
State lawmakers and agency heads discussed Mexicoâs lack of water contribution to the Rio Grande River, the state of the State Water Plan and invasive species at the House Natural Resources committee meeting at the Capitol yesterday.
Itâs not the first time Mexico has run up this type of water deficit on the Rio Grande. Between 1992 and 2005, Mexico neglected to put more than 1.5 million acre feet of water into the river. Thatâs nearly twice the amount of water in Central Texasâ two largest reservoirs, Lakes Travis and Buchanan, combined. Mexico did eventually pay back that debt in water, however.
Without Mexicoâs contribution to the Rio Grande, water supplies are running short here in Texas. Continue Reading →
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