Energy
Reporting and commentary on the Texas energy industry and innovations shaping its future
Energy
October 4, 2016
The Future of Balmorhea
There's been a lot of hang-wringing over what could happen to one of the state's most treasured pools in the midst of the latest oil discovery, but an environmental research group is optimistic about the outcome.
Energy
September 29, 2016
Truth and Fiction on the Horizon
The worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history is getting the Hollywood treatment in "Deepwater Horizon," out today.
Energy
September 26, 2016
A New Study Shows The Strongest Link Yet Between Texas Earthquakes And Fracking
Using satellite technology, scientists determined wastewater disposal injections triggered several Texas quakes.
Politics & Policy
July 29, 2016
Is Russia Influencing Trump’s Thoughts on Energy?
What the Republican presidential candidate’s comments about oil and natural gas say about geopolitics.
Energy
July 20, 2016
Electric Mayhem
Every month, the customers of the state’s smallest energy transmission utility open their bills—and can’t believe what they see.
Business
June 22, 2016
Out of Gas
How Aubrey McClendon, “America’s most reckless billionaire,” left some Houston energy firms holding the tab.
Science
April 15, 2016
Unfriendly Climate
Katharine Hayhoe has made it her life’s mission to proclaim the truth about climate change. Can she get the skeptics to listen?
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
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.