The latest energy news from The Texas Tribune.
Throughout August, the Tribune will feature 31 ways Texans' lives will change come Sept. 1, the date most bills passed by the Legislature take effect. DAY 18: The sport of catching catfish with bare hands, known as noodling, is now legal in Texas. Watch the Trib's interview with filmmaker and avid noodler Bradley Beesley. Full Story
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The sand dune lizard, located in parts of West Texas and New Mexico, could potentially be interfering with the drilling of oil and gas. Full Story
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As the scorching summer days march on, so does the fear of blackouts. Full Story
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Aguilar on the denial of asylum petitions by border judges, Galbraith on the history of wind, Grissom talks to the head of the Jail Standards Commission, Hamilton on plans for the state's new online university, Murphy and Ramsey on political warchests at midyear, Philpott on Texas' trucker shortage, Ramsey talks data privacy and abortion with Susan Combs, Ramshaw on the Rick Perry's experimental adult stem cell procedure, Root on the response to The Response, M. Smith on the country's could-be next first lady and Tan on a few of the ways Texas will change on Sept. 1: The best of our best content from Aug. 1 to 5, 2011. Full Story
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In West Texas, the main concern is water. In cities like Houston and Fort Worth, clay soil is drying up because of the blistering summer heat, bursting water pipelines and splitting asphalt roads. Across Texas, the cause of these spiraling problems is the same: a nine-month drought that shows no signs of relenting. Full Story
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After more unabating triple-digit temperatures and continued skyrocketing power demand, the Texas electric grid operator warned of a "high probability" of rolling blackouts, although as of 5 p.m. the danger appeared to have abated. Full Story
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It’s official: Texas is now in the midst of the worst one-year drought on record, according to State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon. Full Story
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Texas set another all-time record for electricity use on Wednesday, forcing the state's grid operator to declare a power emergency. Matt Largey of KUT News reports on the state power grid's struggle to keep up with the heat. Full Story
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As scorching temperatures continued and Texas electricity use reached another all-time high, the state grid operator initiated the first step of emergency procedures today, seeking power from other grids, including Mexico. Full Story
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As the triple-digit temperatures stretch into August, Texas residents are blasting their air conditioners — and straining the electric grid with record demand. The grid operator is asking that residents and businesses cut down on their electricity use in the late afternoons all week. Full Story
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Forests of enormous electric wind turbines now rise across West Texas — a far cry from the smaller, water-pumping windmills that covered the land a century ago. In Lubbock, a museum called the American Wind Power Center traces this change, juxtaposing old and new. Full Story
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Aaronson examines the Texas jobs "miracle," Root on how Rick Perry built his financial portfolio, Tan and Wiseman on Perry vs. Ron Paul, Philpott on how budget cuts will affect a mental health provider, yours truly on a House freshman who was less than impressed with his first legislative experience, M. Smith on public schools charging for things that used to be free, Hamilton on a new call to reinvent higher education, Grissom on a rare stay of execution, Galbraith on the end of a Panhandle wind program, Aguilar on the increase of legal immigration into the U.S. and Texas: The best of our best content from July 25 to 29, 2011. Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued new regulatory standards for oil and gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing. Full Story
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As the Department of Agriculture focuses on biofuels, it is pulling out of wind and solar research. For the tiny Panhandle hamlet of Bushland, this means the end of a wind program that has operated for 35 years. Full Story
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The Daughters of the Republic of Texas are gradually being relieved of sole responsibility for one of the Lone Star state's most important icons after years of controversy over their management of the Alamo. Full Story
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With Texas facing dramatic population growth and constraints on its water supplies, interest in the use of sewage — or "reclaimed water," as those in the industry prefer to call it — to provide for a variety of water needs is growing. Full Story
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Ramshaw on the lioness of the Texas House, Dehn and Tan review 20 years of Rick Perry's political ads, Murphy's latest database includes the governor's political accounts over the last decade, Aaronson's visualizations of what was said in the biggest legislative debates, M. Smith on the woman in the middle chair at the State Board of Education, Galbraith on how the drought is forcing ranchers to sell their herds, Grissom has the story on a cattle rustler who's asking the courts to give him an old-fashioned sentence, Hamilton covers Rick O'Donnell's latest salvo at higher education, Aguilar on whether and how the sanctuary cities issue will translate at the ballot box next year, yours truly on Ron Paul's candidacy and the candidate in his own words: The best of our best from July 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes. Full Story
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At a press conference today, the Lower Colorado River Authority warned Austin and the rest of Central Texas to brace for continued drought. Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, the region's major reservoirs, are currently 52 percent full, and dropping steadily. Full Story
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Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said during a visit to Austin on Wednesday that a pollution rule adopted this month that has infuriated many Texas officials will save lives and can be enacted "cheaply and efficiently." Full Story
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