In Memoriam
January 22, 2024
Farewell to One of the Fathers of Fracking
Claude Cooke loved the oil and gas business—and worked to address some of its shortcomings.
Fracking
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1-37 of 37 Articles
Art
October 7, 2021
From California Artists, a Stinging Critique of Texas’s Relationship to Its Land
An ambitious traveling exhibition asks how we became a state of endless fences, dams, and gas flares.
Energy
September 12, 2021
Fracking Has a Bad Rep, but Its Tech Is Powering a Clean Energy Shift
Texas start-ups are harnessing know-how born of the shale boom in pursuit of a greener future.
Energy
March 18, 2020
The Most Unexpected Revelation From RuPaul’s Recent NPR Interview? He Might Be Fracking
One energy company allegedly working with the drag star is based in Texas.
Boomtown
February 11, 2020
Boomtown, Episode 10: The Mitchell Paradox
No oil and gas baron since John D. Rockefeller has made more of an impact on society than George P. Mitchell. But this son of poor Greek immigrants who died a billionaire wanted to leave a legacy beyond oil and gas.
Boomtown
February 4, 2020
Boomtown, Episode 9: A Dark Horizon
Christian talks with renowned business writer Bethany McLean about how the finances of fracking aren't what they're cracked up to be.
Energy
October 16, 2019
How One Desperate Energy Executive Launched the Fracking Revolution
When his Houston-based company was on the ropes, George Mitchell pushed his engineers to resuscitate a declining North Texas gas field. The solution they came up with transformed the world.
Energy
January 3, 2019
How West Texas Became Woodstock for Frackers
Welcome to the Permian Basin, home of the hottest oil play in the world.
Energy
September 15, 2018
Tackling the Financial Reality of ‘Saudi America’
In her new book, Bethany McLean explores the unstable financial future of fracking.
Energy
November 30, 2017
A New Study Offers Further Proof That North Texas Earthquakes Are Drilling- and Fracking-Related
The fault lines had been inactive for 300 million years before fracking started.
Energy
November 17, 2017
Fracking Disproportionately Affects Communities of Color in Texas, Study Shows
The authors call for increased mandatory distance between disposal wells and water sources and for local community members to be more vocal in decisions regarding wastewater.
Energy
August 4, 2017
This Week in Texas Energy: Texas Big Oil Comes Out Against the Bathroom Bill
Energy Secretary Rick Perry might head to the Department of Homeland Security, Texas holds on to the number one spot for energy consumption, and big oil and ranchers battle over water resources in West Texas.
Energy
February 10, 2017
This Week in Texas Energy: Wind Power Becomes Number-one Source of Renewable Energy
Plus: U.S. Representative Louis Gohmert introduces legislation around fracking.
Energy
February 1, 2017
Native Americans Continue The Fight To Stop The Trans-Pecos Pipeline In West Texas
Using the Dakota Access Pipeline as a blueprint, Native Americans and other activists have brought protests to West Texas.
Energy
January 31, 2017
OPEC v. the Frackers: Round Two
When OPEC let oil prices plunge, U.S. producers responded by improving fracking technology.
Business
June 22, 2016
Out of Gas
How Aubrey McClendon, “America’s most reckless billionaire,” left some Houston energy firms holding the tab.
Energy
April 28, 2015
The Texas Supreme Court Rules That a Fracking Company’s Defamation Suit Against a Guy Who Claims His Tap Water Is on Fire Can Proceed
If a natural gas company builds a fracking well a half a mile from your house, and then the water coming out of your hose catches fire, you might want to keep it to yourself.
The Culture
April 21, 2015
On Shaky Ground
So what’s with all those earthquakes in North Texas? Is fracking really to blame? Let us give you a visual.
Politics & Policy
December 15, 2014
Tilting at Gas Wells
Skip Hollandsworth drills into the surprising (and not so surprising) fortunes of Denton’s anti-fracking ballot measure.
Energy
December 2, 2014
What Other Texas Municipalities Are Considering New Fracking Laws?
Denton's fracking ban is facing constitutional challenges, but other parts of the state are keen to enforce laws of their own against fracking.
Essay
October 13, 2014
On the Road Again
I thought being a landman in the Eagle Ford Shale would help replenish my bank account. I quickly got more than I bargained for.
Energy
May 9, 2014
Liquid Assets
You know that fracking boom? Now it’s putting Texas at the front of a new energy race: exporting natural gas to the rest of the world.
News & Politics
April 21, 2014
The Rough Guide to Frackistan
Energy reporter Russell Gold gives us a reason to give a frak about fracking.
Energy
February 25, 2014
ExxonMobil CEO Doesn’t Want a Fracking Operation Near His Backyard
Rex Tillerson joined a lawsuit to prevent the construction of a fracking-related project near his ranch in Denton. The irony here is rich.
News & Politics
February 12, 2014
Shaken and Stirred
After the earthquakes in the Barnett Shale, some small-town citizens underwent a surprising transformation.
Oil & Gas
October 29, 2013
The Feds and Fracking: A Chicken or Egg Question
Federal officials like to remind the public that the invention of hydraulic fracturing owes a great debt to government funding and support. Houston oilman George P. Mitchell would have disagreed.
Energy
October 21, 2013
The Energy Hunter
George Mitchell didn’t set out to launch one of the biggest oil and gas rushes in world history—he just wanted to coax some more gas out of an old well near Fort Worth.
Energy
October 21, 2013
“Y’all Smell That? That’s the Smell of Money.”
A son of the oil patch chases the new boom in South Texas.
January 21, 2013
Midland: The Second-Richest City in America
Residents in the more upscale half of the Permian Basin make more money per capita than people in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, and Houston.
Business
January 21, 2013
Texas Business Report: Fracking Dealt Major Blow
A University of Texas study found that natural gas drilling may have led to seventy earthquakes in the Barnett Shale region.
January 21, 2013
Is Fracking Causing All These Earthquakes?
StateImpact Texas found a substantial connection between hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and the sudden surge in Texas quakes.
Energy
January 21, 2013
What the Frack is Up With ‘Dallas’?
Is TNT's reboot of the classic soap opera also a mirror of the country's changing relationship with fossil fuels?
Energy
January 20, 2013
That’s Oil, Folks!
Forget the Outer Continental Shelf. There’s a good old-fashioned boom happening in Midland, thanks to a crafty drilling technique that unlocked the secret reserves of the Permian Basin and revived the late, great West Texas oilman.
Energy
September 30, 2012
Fracked Into a Corner?
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have given us a natural gas boom—and a whole lot of questions.
Business
February 24, 2012
Texas Business Report: BP Gets in the Wind Game
BP has invested more than $1 billion in wind energy in Texas, Dell's stocks take a dip, and every minute spent waiting in line at the border costs companies $116 million.
Energy
December 12, 2011
Is Fracking Polluting the Groundwater?
The EPA issued a draft report last week linking fracking to groundwater contamination, but this did not cool the industry’s support of the practice.
Energy
September 30, 2011
Here’s the Drill
As hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) has unlocked untold reserves of natural gas, it has also unleashed a wave of concerns about pollution and, for one family in the Barnett Shale, a long nightmare.