Lawmakers consider requiring Texas schools to test water for lead
Advocates for mandatory water testing say schools are particularly vulnerable because so many of them are aging and have older pipes and water fountains. Full Story
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Kiah Collier
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Kiah Collier was a reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative initiative from 2020 through 2023. She previously worked at the Tribune as a reporter and associate editor, covering energy and the environment through the lens of state government and politics. Kiah has reported for numerous other publications across Texas since 2010, including the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. Her beats also have included government and politics, public education and business. Kiah’s work has been honored with numerous prizes, including a George Foster Peabody Award, a Gerald Loeb Award, the Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism, the National Edward R. Murrow Award for best investigation and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. A seventh-generation Texan, she grew up in the Austin area and graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in journalism and philosophy.
Past Contributions
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Credit: Steve A. Johnson / Flickr -
Texas GOP welcomes Trump order repealing climate regulations
Texas Republicans and fossil fuel champions are celebrating an executive order signed by President Trump on Tuesday aimed at curtailing Obama-era climate regulations, calling it a win for utility customers and the state economy. Full Story
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![Steam rises from the stacks at the Martin Lake coal-fired power plant in Tatum, Texas.]()
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Environmental impacts of the border fence (slideshow)
Scenes from the Rio Grande Valley in far South Texas, where a border barrier went up years ago. Full Story
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![A section of border fence near Brownsville.]()
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Scientists say Trump's border wall would devastate wildlife habitat
At the U.S.-Mexico border, scientists say existing fencing is hurting endangered wildlife and warn that a continuous wall could devastate many species. Full Story
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![Scott Nicol, co-chair of the Sierra Club’s Borderlands Campaign, stands in front of a concrete levee topped by the border fence in Hidalgo County. Environmentalists, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, say the barrier endangers wildlife because animals can't reach dry land during floods.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Expect fewer man-made earthquakes in Texas, federal agency says
The odds that a man-made earthquake will hit Texas this year have plummeted, according to new risk projections from the U.S. Geological Survey that are based on the amount of seismic activity that's occurred here in the past few years. Full Story
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![Each day, dozens of trucks hook up to the Gulf Coast-run fracking fluid disposal well site near Gonzales, Texas.]()
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Trump water directive cheered by ranchers, blasted by environmentalists
State leaders and agriculture groups applauded an executive order issued by President Trump on Tuesday that suggests the controversial "Waters of the U.S." rule finalized under President Obama could be reversed. Full Story
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Global warming skeptic Lamar Smith sets "Make EPA Great Again" hearing
A Texas congressman has scheduled a committee hearing next week “to examine the Environmental Protection Agency’s process for evaluating and using science during its regulatory decision making activities.” Full Story
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![Congressman Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.]()
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Texas scientists worry about research funding under Trump
Texas scientists — particularly those who study climate — are worried they may lose access to key government research funding under the administration of President Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change a "hoax." Full Story
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Will Texas become final resting place for high-level nuclear waste?
A controversial radioactive waste dump in far West Texas is one step closer to being able to accept high-level nuclear waste. Full Story
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![Large quantities of radioactive materials stored in a single location, like these at an oil well-logging storage site, are particularly vulnerable to theft for use in a dirty bomb, the Department of Energy and the Government Accountability Office determined in 2014, yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission still allows the practice.]()
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House, Senate disagree on how to fund the state's oil and gas regulator
Texas House and Senate leaders unveiled dueling budget proposals this week that are billions of dollars apart. Full Story
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Credit: Paul Lowry