Record winter heat, dry air helped drive Panhandle fire risk
Texas has a wildfire season in winter, but climate change is extending it, scientists say. Full Story
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![Smoke hangs in the Canadian River Valley south of Stinnett, Texas after multiple days of wild fires Friday, March. 1, 2024.]()
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune -
Texas wildfires: how to help and how to stay safe
As firefighters work to put out the largest wildfire in Texas history, here’s a guide to fire weather watches, safety tips and how to find organizations collecting donations to directly help local residents, including farmers and ranchers. Full Story
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![Members of the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department ready their equipment in Fritch, Tx. Residents have been working to recover from the Tuesday grass fires that devastated parts of the panhandle.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
As Biden and Trump visit the border, many Texas residents feel ignored
When the two presidents used the Texas-Mexico boundary as a backdrop for the national immigration fight, residents felt they were left out of the conversation. Full Story
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![Pedestrians walk through downtown Brownsville early Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. President Joe Biden visited Brownsville on Thursday, receiving briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, USCIS, and ICE along the border before giving remarks at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Texans in the Panhandle recall towering smoke and darkened skies as wildfires crept near their towns
The fires have left at least two people dead and four injured firefighters. Cattle have been lost and homes and businesses decimated in their wake. Full Story
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![A car sits front of the burned the Rose Trailer Sales business on State Highway 136. Residents have been working to recover from the Tuesday grass fires that devastated parts of the panhandle.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Firefighters rush to subdue deadly Panhandle wildfire before dangerous conditions return Saturday
Light rain and snow Thursday allowed firefighters to gain better control of the state’s largest-ever fire, which has killed at least two people. Full Story
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![A satellite view of the aftermath of the Smokehouse Creek wildfire in Fritch, Texas, U.S. February 28, 2024.]()
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“Nobody really knows what you’re supposed to do”: Leaking, exploding abandoned wells wreak havoc in West Texas
The Texas Railroad Commission is tasked with plugging wells. But the state regulators say their scope is limited. Full Story
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![Bill Wight looks at the well that was leaking high volumes of salt water on his land Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Crane County.]()
Credit: Sarah M. Vasquez for The Texas Tribune -
Texas wildfires continue growing as firefighters struggle to contain massive Panhandle blazes
The five fires have burned more than a million acres — more than double the landmass of Houston — as residents have fled or sheltered in place. Full Story
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![Wildfires have erupted in the Texas Panhandle this week.]()
Credit: Screenshot from Texas A&M Forest Service video -
Crawfish prices soaring after last year’s drought wiped out most of the harvest
“It’s like the stock market crash for crawfish,” said Thomas Rozelle, a Pasadena wholesaler struggling to find enough supply for his Houston customers. Full Story
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![Thomas Rozelle, looks at a crop of freshly caught crawfish at BOCAGE Crawfish, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Acadia Parish, LA. (Antranik Tavitian / Houston Landing)]()
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Texas Tech System receives 6,000 acres in state’s “Big Empty” region for research, learning labs
The property is currently an observatory surrounded by open land. System officials say they’ll use it for agricultural research and other opportunities. Full Story
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![Fred Koch donated 6,000 acres of a vast Texas expanse known as "The Big Empty" to the Texas Tech University System.]()
Credit: Courtesy of the 3 Rivers Foundation -
Railroad Commission approves oilfield waste ponds next to Baptist camp in Permian Basin
Martin Water is building an oil and gas waste recycling facility next to the Circle 6 Baptist Camp in the Permian Basin despite concerns about water and air pollution. Full Story
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![Circle 6 Baptist Camp, bottom, and produced water ponds, constructed by Martin Water, top, in Lenorah on Feb. 24, 2024. The Railroad Commission approved the construction of the ponds, used to treat and recycle produced water from fracking, next to the Circle 6 Baptist Camp in the Permian Basin.]()
Credit: Julian Mancha for The Texas Tribune/Inside Climate News -
Rescued Gulf of Mexico coral in a Galveston aquarium could help the species’ survival
A new report found that coral off Texas’ coast could die off by 2040 because of climate change. Full Story
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![Senior biologist Brooke Zurita administers a blend of vitamins and algae to coral using a baster at Moody Gardens Aquarium on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, in Galveston, Texas.]()
Credit: Hope Mora for The Texas Tribune -
The EPA sets tougher national soot standards. These 10 Texas counties already exceed them.
Some environmental experts are skeptical that Texas can meet the new rules on particulate matter, which can cause serious respiratory problems. Full Story
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![Production units are seen in operation at Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, U.S., May 15, 2023.]()
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How Texas is playing a major role in the race to develop clean energy technologies
The federal government is pouring billions of dollars into developing clean power sources. In this conversation hosted by The Texas Tribune in Houston, panelists discussed how Texas companies are playing a major role in emerging technologies like hydrogen and geothermal. Full Story
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In Dallas, EPA casts a net for answers on how pollution from concrete batch plants affects people’s health
EPA scientists went fishing to begin a study of how pollution from a group of concrete batch plants impacts human health. Full Story
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![DALLAS, TX - JANUARY 30, 2024: Jamie Morgan, 35, aquatic biologist at Jacobs Solutions, (left) sets up a gillnet with employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at Fish Trap Lake Park in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The city of Dallas and local community leaders partnered with the EPA on the Cumulative Impacts Assessment Pilots Project, which focuses on the cumulative impacts from concrete batch plants. CREDIT: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ oil and gas production surges even as federal government clamps down on environmental regulations
Crude oil and natural gas extraction in Texas reached record levels in 2023, according to the industry’s annual report. Full Story
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![A Diamondback Energy engineer walks around the base of a drilling rig Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 in Martin County.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas companies reported releasing 1 million pounds of excess pollution during recent cold snap
Called “upset” events, companies are required to tell the state when they emit pollution above what their permits allow. Full Story
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![A house in the Hillcrest neighborhood in Corpus on Feb. 7, 2022. Houses in this neighborhood have co-existed with oil refineries like Flint Hills for decades.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Texas could swap land in Boca Chica State Park with SpaceX
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote in March on a deal that environmental advocates, the Esto'k Gna Tribal Nation of Texas and local officials oppose. Full Story
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![SpaceX rockets at the launch pad at the Brownsville facility on Oct. 20, 2021. On Oct. 22, Elon Musk said via Twitter the Starship rocket would be ready for an orbital launch by next month.]()
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Another hot, dry summer may push water supplies in parts of Texas to the brink
Some areas are starting the year with low water reserves. Forecasters don’t expect substantial relief from the weather. Full Story
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![Stagnant water is seen at the dry spillway of the Falcon Dam in Starr County on Aug. 18, 2022. Assistant Area Operations Manager at the Falcon dam Jesus Guerra says water has not flowed through the spillway since last year because water levels are below the dam gates.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Texans asked to conserve energy as demand was expected to put strain on electric grid
Public Utility Commission said conservation would help lower demand during peak times and help avoid emergency conditions. Full Story
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![Reliability Coordinators monitored the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) command center in Taylor in 2012.]()
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“I don’t wish this on anyone”: Two families mourn their losses after a record year for Texas heat deaths
More than 300 Texans died from heat in 2023, the most since the state began tracking such deaths in 1989. Full Story
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![Donald Green's stepson Jerry Barker spreads Green's and Green's dog's ashes, at the backyard of Green's old home in Freeport during a celebration of life, on Dec. 16, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune