Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
Consider the Windmill
Along with its descendant, the towering wind turbine, this spindly mechanism turns fast and slow, measuring out our days.
Energy
Reporting and commentary on the Texas energy industry and innovations shaping its future
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
Whatever Happened to the Old-fashioned Texas Oilmen?
They washed the crude off their hands and put on suits and ties. Or sensible blazer-and-skirt combos.
Energy
January 16, 2023
Texas Power Plants Swore They Were Ready for the Next Big Freeze. Many Weren’t.
The state avoided a disaster during the recent Arctic blast, but a sizable number of electricity generators still struggled in the cold.
Energy
January 12, 2023
Drilling in the Permian Is Lonely Work. A Rig Dog Can Help.
When Bruno went missing, Alex Reyna lost a key member of his oil-field crew.
Energy
October 28, 2022
After a Lifetime of Drilling, This Texas Oilman Digs One Final Well
On a farm near Flatonia, Mike Shellman closes the chapter on nearly sixty years in the business.
News
September 29, 2022
How Enron Foretold Our Greedy, Disastrous Present
When Texas Monthly covered Enron's fall in 2001, we wondered if the company was an outlier or the new normal. There's no longer any question.
By
Mimi Swartz
![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Energy
August 18, 2022
Texas Leaders Shut Renewables Out in Planning the Power Grid’s Future
On a state advisory committee, only one member has experience developing wind or solar power. And he’s voiced some eyebrow-raising ideas.
Energy
August 10, 2022
Opinion: Let’s Cut the Red Tape That’s Holding Back Solar Energy in Texas
Homeowners could take much more burden off the power grid, if cities and utilities would get out of the way.
Energy
July 29, 2022
ExxonMobil Makes Godlike Profits, but Mortal Challenges Remain
The oil giant this week announced quarterly earnings that set an all-time record for any Texas business. That’s both good and bad news for the state.
Energy
July 20, 2022
No, Shading Your AC Unit With an Umbrella Won’t Help. But We Talked to an Expert About What Will.
Put the umbrella down. A viral Facebook post offers some bad advice to Texans about how to stay cool in this summer’s record-breaking heat.
Energy
July 12, 2022
Solar Power Is Bailing Texas Out This Summer
Enjoying that AC? Thank the mighty power of the sun and the renewable energy source keeping the grid afloat.
By
Dan Solomon
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Energy
July 11, 2022
Bitcoin Miners Could Save the Texas Grid—or Sink It
Our state struggles to serve Texans’ needs on the hottest and coldest days. So why are we welcoming the energy-hogging cryptocurrency industry?
Energy
June 29, 2022
An Oil Well Off Padre Island Leaked for Months Before It Was Plugged
Patching it cost the state $1.6 million. Many others are similarly falling into disrepair, and the agencies charged with their oversight are doing nothing about them.
Energy
June 15, 2022
The West Texas Rancher Exposing Big Oil’s Buried Secrets
After an abandoned well began spewing toxic, salty water onto her Permian Basin land, Ashley Watt would stop at nothing to determine the cause—and to hold Chevron accountable.
Politics & Policy
June 6, 2022
Paul Burka’s Profile of Clinton Manges Exemplifies an Unrivaled Career
No one had a deeper understanding of Texas power—its heroes and villains, its uses and abuses—than Paul.
By
Mimi Swartz
![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Texas History
May 31, 2022
How Texas Monthly Chronicled the Eighties Oil Bust Via a Beloved Houston Clothier
Bobby Sakowitz dressed Houston’s most stylish through the seventies and eighties boom years. Then things went bust.
Texas History
May 23, 2022
How a Texas Monthly Editor Got Inside a Billion-Dollar Wall Street Power Play
Joe Nocera’s pitched profile of then-little-known T. Boone Pickens got him unprecedented access to Pickens’s 1982 attempt to take over Cities Service.
Energy
April 26, 2022
A New Texas Oil Boom Is Coming, Finally
That is, whenever the industry can sort out supply-chain issues and labor shortages.
Energy
April 4, 2022
How a Writer in the Seventies Documented the Essence of Exxon
Former staff writer Nicholas Lemann remembers how Exxon refused to cooperate with his story—and why that made all the difference.
Energy
March 11, 2022
$100 Oil Is Back! Why Isn’t Texas Drilling?
Russia’s war on Ukraine has made it practically patriotic to pump oil, but the Permian hasn’t ramped up production. Don’t blame Washington. Blame Wall Street.
Energy
March 2, 2022
Exxon’s Russian Exit Ends a Messy, Prosperous Friendship
After Putin met Tillerson, billions were made, but at what cost?
Politics & Policy
February 17, 2022
One Candidate Shows Her Breasts. Another Dies Tragically. A Third Is Accused of Graft.
The campaign for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, usually a low-profile affair, is getting more attention—and that’s a good thing.
Energy
February 14, 2022
How Texas Is Rescuing Europe From the Russians
An energy crisis on the Continent has it desperate for help from the Permian natural gas it had earlier spurned.
Energy
February 1, 2022
It’s February. A Freeze Is Coming. Will the Texas Grid Fail Again?
State leaders did little to prevent future blackouts, but ERCOT should have the electric supply to meet skyrocketing demand this week—so long as there are no major system failures.
Environment
January 20, 2022
The Mystery of the West Texas Geyser Deepens
Turns out the Permian Basin well that's been blowing briny water 100 feet high isn't the well the Railroad Commission thought it was.
Energy
January 18, 2022
The Texas Electric Grid Failure Was a Warm-up
One year after the deadly blackout, Texas officials have done little to prevent the next one—which could be far worse.
Energy
January 12, 2022
A Forgotten Oil Well Births a 100-Foot Geyser in West Texas
The salty water spewing high on a Crane County ranch could be a sign of a “whack-a-mole” future in the Permian Basin.
Energy
January 6, 2022
This Gas-Burning Power Plant Near Galveston Bay Could Change the Future of Clean Energy
NET Power says it can deliver zero-emission electricity to the Texas grid, but is its sustainable-energy business sustainable?
Health
December 6, 2021
It’s Hard Out Here—Way, Way, Way Out Here—for a Medic
Oil-field medics face long hours, grisly accidents, desolation, and low pay. So why do they do it?
Business
October 8, 2021
Why Tesla Is Moving to Texas
Elon Musk’s company aims to transform the energy business. So, of course, it’s relocating to the energy capital.
Energy
September 24, 2021
Natural Gas Prices Are Surging. Why Aren’t Texas Drillers Taking Advantage?
The state’s shale fields are quiet, keeping supply tight and energy bills higher.
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.
Business
August 26, 2021
Elon Musk Wants to Sell Texans Electricity
Tesla has filed to become a Texas power retailer in a move that could shake up an already fast-changing market.
Energy
June 18, 2021
Is There an “Ethical” Temperature at Which to Set Your Thermostat?
It’s a question we are once more forced to ponder—and one for which we have an answer!
By
Dan Solomon
![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Energy
June 18, 2021
What Is Wrong With the Texas Grid?
Our electric system can’t deliver the power we need when we need it most. But political leaders don't seem all that interested in fixing the problem.
Energy
June 15, 2021
Did Lawmakers Fix Texas’s Electric Grid?
Governor Greg Abbott said the Lege has done everything necessary to prevent future blackouts. We ask four experts whether that’s true.
Energy
June 9, 2021
Griddy Argues It Was, in Fact, a Champion of Consumers
The much-maligned—now bankrupt and outlawed—electricity provider offered just the sort of experiment Texas’s energy deregulation sought.
Energy
May 27, 2021
ExxonMobil and Its Rivals Learn They Can’t Ignore Climate Activists
Major setbacks this week may force the oil giants to speed efforts to curb carbon emissions and invest in renewables—and perhaps even abandon the search for new fossil-fuel plays.
Energy
May 20, 2021
Texas’s Oil and Gas Industry Is Defending Its Billions in Subsidies Against a Green Energy Push
The state's energy business has long counted on tax breaks and other largesse. Whether renewables or fossil fuels get more depends on how you do the math.
Energy
May 20, 2021
Haunting Images of the Permian Bust
Famed portrait photographer Dan Winters shifted his focus to a new character, the Permian Basin, as the storied region weathered a historic oil bust.
Energy
March 31, 2021
America’s Offshore Wind-Powered Future Begins in a Texas Shipyard
In announcing an ambitious renewable-energy push this week, the Biden administration highlighted a vessel under construction in Brownsville as proof of the economic opportunities of going green.
Politics & Policy
March 17, 2021
Dan Patrick Declares War on “Green” Wall Street Investors
The lieutenant governor wants to require state pension and education funds to divest from financial giants that are trimming their investments in oil and gas—but he hasn’t thought through the potential consequences.
Business
March 16, 2021
Some on Wall Street Profited off Texas Blackouts. In a Private Call, a Top Regulator Pledged He Would Try to Protect Their Windfall.
Public Utility Commission chairman Arthur D’Andrea apologized to investors last week for the “uncertainty” around its profits.
Business
March 4, 2021
Despite Losing Power for Days, Texans Will Pay Higher Power Bills—Perhaps for Decades to Come
The bankruptcies and staggering electricity charges are beginning to arrive. Could it go from bad to worse?
Energy
March 3, 2021
The Great Texas Blackout Was Caused by a Failure to Ensure Supplies of Natural Gas
State leaders have pointed fingers at everything from windmills to the bureaucrats at ERCOT. But the real issue is the electric grid’s reliance on a lightly regulated natural gas production industry.
Energy
February 27, 2021
Texas’s Independence Didn’t Cause the Power Crisis
There’s plenty that needs fixing to avoid another electricity disaster, but our isolated grid isn’t the problem.
Politics & Policy
February 25, 2021
Who’s Responsible for the Texas Blackouts?
Our governor and lawmakers want to blame everyone but themselves for the February blackouts, the latest crisis of their own making.
Energy
February 19, 2021
El Paso Heeded the Warnings and Avoided a Winter Catastrophe
The West Texas city was spared the worst effects of this week’s storms, thanks to its preparations in the wake of a devastating 2011 deep freeze.
Politics & Policy
February 19, 2021
The Texas Blackout Is the Story of a Disaster Foretold
Those in charge of Texas’s deregulated power sector were warned again and again that the electric grid was vulnerable.
News
February 17, 2021
What Went Wrong With Texas’s Main Electric Grid and Could It Have Been Prevented?
An energy expert explains why some four million Texans suffered a barrage of winter storms without heat in their homes.