Energy
March 9, 2016
Buy A Mansion And Get A Free Tesla, Then Further Destroy Houston’s Economy
It sounds like a sweet deal, but it doesn't make sense for the Bayou City.
Energy
Reporting and commentary on the Texas energy industry and innovations shaping its future
Energy
January 27, 2016
Something in the Air
For a few months every year, life in West Texas is defined by the wind.
The Daily Post
January 4, 2016
Crude Keeps Plunging, Threatening To Drag Down Houston’s Residential Real Estate Market With It
As the price of crude keeps plunging and the oil and gas layoffs mount, more and more bad news is coming from Houston’s residential real estate market, even as some developers are building or planning still more luxury condo projects.
The Daily Post
October 1, 2015
Houston’s Real Estate Market Feeling The Effects Of Oil’s Price Drop
Don’t be fooled by claims of economic diversification—the city still runs on oil.
Burka Blog
August 25, 2015
Oil Price Anxiety Forecast: Mild Consternation
Let’s not overreact, but let’s not underreact either.
Energy
August 19, 2015
A Pipeline in the Sand
As the oil industry tries to make inroads in far West Texas, it’s learning that Alpine is no Midland.
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. …
Energy
April 13, 2015
Silica Alley
A funny thing happened on the way to the San Angelo fracking sand transloading facility. …
Energy
March 31, 2015
Georgetown Is the First City in Texas to Be Powered Entirely by Renewable Energy—But Not for the Reasons You’d Think
The conservative interim city manager just made Georgetown one of the first cities in the U.S. to be entirely renewable. The reasons why he did it are reasons even Ted Cruz could get behind. …
Energy
March 4, 2015
Learning to Roughneck
Growing up in the Permian Basin, I thought I had a sense of what it was like working the oilfields. Turns out I didn’t know a damn thing.
Energy
January 9, 2015
This Time It’ll Be Different
Plummeting prices. Industry layoffs. Panicked mergers. Are we about to experience the eighties all over again?…
Film & TV
December 24, 2014
Going Deep
Margaret Brown’s new documentary, The Great Invisible, delves into the human suffering experienced in the wake of the BP oil spill.
Energy
December 9, 2014
Oil Field Worker in Odessa Looking For Homeless Lady For Indentured Servitude and “Bedroom Fun” on Craigslist
No idea what could possibly go wrong here. …
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.
The Daily Post
November 24, 2014
Ikea Is Coming to the Rio Grande Valley—to Build a Wind Farm
Valley residents will still have to drive to Houston or Austin for their affordably-priced Swedish furniture, but the home decor company is investing big in energy in the windy part of the state.
The Daily Post
November 4, 2014
Willie Nelson’s BioFuel Business Is in a Pretty Bad Way
Basically, Willie's talents as a songwriter are inversely proportionate to his skill at managing his finances. …
The Daily Post
July 14, 2014
Does San Antonio or Dallas Make More Sense For the Potential Tesla Battery Factory?
Both cities would love to be the home of what will be one of the larger new factories in the U.S.
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.
The Daily Post
April 18, 2014
ALEC Predicts Texas’ Economic Future Is Less Rosy Than Its Economic Present
The highly influential conservative non-profit expects us to drop to number fourteen in the rankings in the future.
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.
Business
February 11, 2014
The Generation Gap
Was deregulating the Texas electricity markets a colossal mistake?…
Energy
December 3, 2013
How Long Will This Shale Boom Last?
We asked three experts in the oil field to come together to discuss that very question and to debate whether this latest boom will treat Texas, and the nation, any better than the last two.
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.
Energy
April 16, 2013
It’s Oil for the Best
One expert explains how the BP spill could be Texas’s greatest boon.
Working Life
April 11, 2013
Tracey Zettner, Oil and Gas Sales Representative
“I haven’t thought about the bust or what I’ll do then. I live one day at a time. I’ll go with it as long as I can.”…
The Culture
March 11, 2013
The Bust of Times
Can Texas’s oil and natural gas boom keep going forever?…
Energy
January 29, 2013
Texas Tenth in the Nation for Green Building
The Lone Star state constructed over 36 million square feet of energy-efficient space last year.
News & Politics
January 29, 2013
One Texas Lawmaker Wants Electric Vehicle Owners to Pay
Representative Drew Darby wants fuel-efficient vehicles, which naturally incur lower gas taxes, to be charged increased registration fees.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Five of the Worst Mercury-Polluting Power Plants Are In Texas
According to a new report ranking the ten worst mercury-emitting coal plants in the US.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Inside Texas’s New Radioactive Dump
The new dump for low-level radioactive waste in west Texas will help relieve an overburdened site in Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
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. …
Energy
January 21, 2013
PHOTOS: Superwreck on Interstate 10
Startling images of the 140-vehicle pileup on Interstate 10 west of Beaumont on Thanksgiving Day.
January 21, 2013
Texas Business Report: How Taxpayers Subsidized Construction of Cowboys Stadium
Taxpayers, who footed a large chunk of the bill for the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, got a raw deal, according to a new story in Bloomberg Businessweek.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Romney Visits Texas, Talks Barbara Bush and Energy
During his trips to Houston and Midland on Tuesday, Republican candidate Mitt Romney took time out to praise former first lady Barbara Bush and talk oil and gas.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Appeals Court Sides With Texas in Fight Over EPA Air Pollution Rule
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Mexican Pipeline Expansion To Be Fueled With Texas Gas
The new $8 billion project will be fed in part with natural gas from the South Texas and Eagle Ford Shale fields.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Electric Vehicle Program Piloted in Austin Neighborhood
Mueller, a master-planned community in Austin, has the highest concentration of electric vehicles in the country as part of a pilot project focusing on clean energy.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Gulf Coast Portion of Keystone Pipeline Approved
TransCanada announced that construction of the Texas-Oklahoma segment of its pipeline will begin shortly—immediately prompting a backlash from environmentalists and conservative landowners alike.
Energy
January 21, 2013
Texans Urged to Conserve Power as Temperatures Hit Triple Digits
Energy usage for the month of June broke records for two days in a row, as ERCOT and the Public Utilities Commission scramble to prevent rolling blackouts.
Energy
January 21, 2013
The Scoop on the Problems at the Motiva Plant
The expansion of the Port Arthur plant briefly made it the largest in the country before an accident disabled the new 325,000-barrel-per-day crude distillation unit.
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 21, 2013
What Does the Drought Mean for the Texas Miracle?
As much as anything, the economic boom in Texas depends on water. So what will industry do as the state gets drier? The Texas Tribune's Kate Galbraith explains.
Energy
January 21, 2013
No Endangered Species Listing for Dunes Sagebrush Lizard
The oil industry cheered news Wednesday that the tiny lizard will not be added to the endangered species list.