Texas company fined $30 million for 2019 chemical explosion near Beaumont
Two explosions at TPC Group’s facility in Port Neches injured workers and triggered the evacuation of more than 50,000 people. Full Story
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![A process tower flies through the air after exploding at the TPC Group Petrochemical Plant, after an earlier massive explosion sparked a blaze at the plant in Port Neches on Nov. 27, 2019.]()
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Texas lizard added to endangered species list over the oil and gas industry’s objections
The dunes sagebrush lizard lives in the same West Texas land that supports the state’s biggest oil and gas fields, and industry leaders say the new designation will hurt drilling and production. Full Story
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![Dunes Sagebrush Lizard.]()
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Photos: Storms toppled transmission towers, downed trees and blew out windows across Houston area
The severe weather caused widespread damage, killed at least four people and left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power. Full Story
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![People survey a partially collapsed section of Conejo Malo in downtown, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston. (Antranik Tavitian / Houston Landing)]()
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Some Houston-area power outages could last weeks after deadly storms cause widespread damage
At least four people were killed and much of the state’s largest city was brought to a standstill. Crews are racing to restore power and remove debris. Full Story
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![Rapper Trae tha Truth, in yellow, cuts fallen tree limbs on top of a car in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm that passed through downtown Houston on May 16, 2024.]()
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U.S. oil and gas production is booming. So are the industry’s donations to its GOP allies
The biggest recipient of campaign donations from the industry isn’t Donald Trump or President Joe Biden, it’s a Texas House member who represents part of the Permian Basin. Full Story
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![Representative August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, arrives for a meeting with Texas Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.]()
Credit: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect -
“We lost everything”: East Texas residents confront their future after flooding
Dozens of evacuees, including the elderly and barefoot children, crowded in an old school building Friday, praying for clear skies on Monday. Full Story
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![Flooding in downtown Livingston on May 2, 2024. Thousands fled their Southeast Texas homes as heavy rains saturated land in multiple counties.]()
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How the flooding in Southeast Texas got so dire
Since Sunday, multiple rounds of rainfall have soaked the region, causing rivers and creeks to swell and rise out of their banks. Full Story
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![The Lake Livingston Dam is seen releasing water on May 3, 2024, in Livingston. The Southeast Texas reservoir reached capacity during several days of intense rainstorms this week.]()
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Decayed power pole sparked the largest wildfire in state history, Texas House committee confirms
A lack of air support and ineffective coordination hurt efforts to contain this year's Panhandle fires, the committee said. Full Story
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![A building destroyed by fire sits in ashes in the Texas R.V. Park in Fritch, TX. Snow and rainfall on Thursday offered temporary relief to firefighters battling the blaze but weather conditions this weekend may cause the fire to spread again.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Companies aim to release more treated oilfield wastewater into rivers and streams
Texas regulators are issuing permits to discharge large volumes of treated “produced water” into some waterways. Questions remain about the toxic pollutants found in the wastewater. Full Story
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![An oil well adjacent to the Red Bluff Reservoir in Reeves County, Texas on February 24, 2020. NGL Water Solutions Permian has proposed to discharge treated produced water into the reservoir.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for Inside Climate News -
Coal power plants must reduce pollution under new federal rules
The rules will require coal-fueled plants, including Texas plants that produced about 12% of power on the state’s grid this year, to reduce carbon emissions and mercury pollution and handle disposed coal ash more safely. Full Story
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![The entrance to the San Miguel Electric Cooperative coal-burning power plant on April 26, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Oil and gas leaders at Tribune panel say the industry’s crucial to West Texas but pollution must be addressed
Panelists discussed how the industry has changed Midland and Odessa and how to confront environmental concerns. Full Story
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Valley activists wage transatlantic battle to stop natural gas exports from South Texas
As legal efforts fall short, Rio Grande Valley residents are pursuing a novel strategy to halt export terminals on wetlands: Lobby Europeans to reject gas from the U.S. Full Story
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![The Port of Brownsville Shrimp Basin, about 4.8 miles away from the Rio Grande LNG terminal.]()
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Water scarcity and clean energy collide in South Texas
A high-tech chemical company has purchased the last available water in the Nueces River to make hydrogen and ammonia for export. Full Story
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![The sun sets over the Port of Corpus Christi in March 2018.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
After Texas’ largest wildfire is contained, a rancher moves on with a single calf
In testimony to state lawmakers, Dale Jenkins and his Panhandle peers shared the “hidden cost” of the wildfires. Full Story
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![Dale Jenkins poses for a photo inside a cattle pen where he left his livestock prior to the Smokehouse Creek fires on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in Canadian. “You'd be out there fighting this fire and you're all by yourself,” Jenkins said. “There's not a soul round. But you've got light from the fire line. And you're working at it and concentrating so hard and finally you get to the end you finally put up the last flames and then it's just totally dark and totally quiet is a really it's an interesting feeling.”]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Public blasts Texas agencies, regulators for poor communication and oversight at wildfire hearings
Thursday’s hearing marked the end of the Legislature’s three-day marathon of public hearings. Full Story
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![Craig Cowden gives testimony to the house committee investigating the Panhandle wildfires Thursday, April 4, 2024 in Pampa.]()
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Texas wind energy firms need more technicians. Can they drum up student interest without state support?
The wind industry promises attractive salaries. But a lack of training programs and waning political support make it difficult to find new recruits. Full Story
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![Texas State Technical College Wind Energy Technology instructor James Chung, center, helps Steven Vasquez, left, and Shayne Howard, right, troubleshoot during a lab on logic gates Tuesday, March 5, 2024 in Sweetwater.]()
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Utility pole inspection company declines to testify at Texas Panhandle wildfire investigation hearing
The Texas A&M Forest Service concluded that a fallen decayed utility pole caused the Smokehouse Creek fire. Full Story
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![State Rep Ken King, R-Canadian, speaks during an investigative house committee hearing on the Texas Panhandle wildfires Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Pampa. In late February, the largest wildfire in Texas history raged across the panhandle, burning just over a million acres.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Small nuclear reactors may be coming to Texas, boosted by interest from Gov. Abbott
A nuclear power plant hasn’t been built in Texas in decades because of cost and public fears of a major accident. Now the governor wants to find out if smaller reactors could meet the state’s growing need for on-demand power. Full Story
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![Reactor operators peer into the reactor pool to look at a blue glow emitting from Texas A&M University’s Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics (TRIGA) nuclear research reactor Monday, March 11, 2024 in College Station.]()
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In Texas, ex-oil and gas workers champion geothermal energy as a replacement for fossil-fueled power plants
Texas has become an early hot spot for geothermal energy exploration as scores of former oil industry workers and executives are taking their knowledge to a new energy source. Full Story
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![Cindy D. Taff, Chief Executive Officer of Sage Geosystems, poses for a photo on March 22, 2023 in Starr County Santa Elena, Texas. The startup is testing storing energy in the ground. “There’s some people that believe that there’s a climate crisis, and some people don’t believe it. We want this to be the energy of choice whether you believe in it or not because it’s cost-effective as well.”
Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Texas energy companies are betting hydrogen can become a cleaner fuel for transportation
Supporters say developing hydrogen as a fuel is critical to slowing climate change. Critics are concerned that producing it with fossil fuels will prop up the oil and gas industry. Full Story
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![Air Liquide’s facility manager Craig Allen at the largest hydrogen storage facility, on Sept. 5, 2023 in Beaumont.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune