After the oil bust, wind and solar energy might be the Permian Basin’s best hope.
Environment
Merlin Tuttle has spent his career dispelling myths about bats. Now he’s defending them once again.
Christian Wallace talks to some familiar faces from the Boomtown series in an attempt to understand what happened on April 20, 2020—when oil prices went negative for the first time in history.
On a special edition of the National Podcast of Texas, the West Texas native and former roughneck explains this week’s record-setting price plunge and weighs its long-term impact on the state’s once-thriving energy business.
Robert and Vickie Lyle’s lives revolve around hunting and trapping hogs. Wildlife refuge managers count on them to keep the destructive pigs in check.
An interview with Robert Bullard on how the novel coronavirus exacerbates existing environmental health issues.
The Redfish Wars changed Texas fishing. A fight over flounder could be next.
Texas offers some of the most-diverse fishing in the country—from stalking monster sharks on Padre Island to fly-fishing from a kayak on the remote Pecos River. And for three months, I got to try it all.
The state has spent more than a century building up a world-class fishery, with some unintended consequences.
Surprising statements by oil industry leaders have grabbed headlines. But the bigger change is underway more quietly, among young Republicans.
Record-breaking oil production in the Permian Basin has brought the boom to the Big Bend's doorstep for the first time. Is it too late to save this pristine landscape?
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.
Christian talks with renowned business writer Bethany McLean about how the finances of fracking aren't what they're cracked up to be.
The uneasy alliance between ranchers and the oil industry goes all the way back to the early wildcatting days in West Texas. But today, that relationship is more fraught than ever.
During booms, the Permian Basin sees a rise in prostitution charges. But misperceptions and stereotypes about sex work have led to policies that may actually harm the women involved.
We explore a different kind of boom in the Permian Basin. Meet the women working at a lingerie coffee shop, a “breastaurant,” and two area strip clubs.
A devastating bust transforms the Permian from the promised land into a wasteland.
I spent some quality time with those decorated cedar trees along Loop 360 to see if I could get in the holiday spirit.
The Santa Rita oil well, named after the patron saint of impossible dreams, launched the first Permian Basin boom and has been fueling the dreams of West Texas wildcatters ever since.
In the first episode of our new podcast series, host Christian Wallace takes us back to his hometown in the Permian Basin, which is nearly unrecognizable to him today. We meet a few of the people whose lives have been upended by the biggest oil boom in U.S. history.
Unless rapid warming is halted, the teeming reefs of the Gulf will likely be decimated.
A conversation with Ben Lamm of Hypergiant, on solving climate change, the surveillance state, and our automated future.
Our new 11-part series takes you inside the rugged Permian Basin of West Texas, where roughnecks and billionaire wildcatters are fueling a boom so big it’s reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics.
Once widely hunted in Texas, the beloved game birds have been dwindling in number in recent decades. But a West Texas hunter and professor believes he’s found a way to save them.
Gulf Coast citizen-activists collected 30 million plastic pellets in order to prove that Formosa was violating the Clean Water Act.
I left Texas after the brutal summer of 2011, only to return in time for the hottest September on record.
Like many in Houston, I've fallen into a predictable pattern as I’ve adapted to the increasingly extreme weather here.
Beaumont, Houston, and Jefferson County are being inundated by rain.
If Texas biologists can prevent an outbreak of white-nose syndrome, caused by a fast-spreading fungus, they may provide a new national model for bat conservation.
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, the author of ’Superpower’ outlines the state’s pioneering role in America’s transition toward fossil fuels alternatives.
Falcon Lake hit a balmy 116 while the heat index in Brownsville was an eyeball-melting 128 degrees, nine degrees warmer than Death Valley.
A constitutional amendment on the ballot in November aims to shore up funding for Texas’s system of state parks and historic sites.
Though some will reap serious profits, the region's dealing with skyrocketing rents, overcrowded schools, and potholes as big as VW Beetles.
The state’s biggest industry finds itself in an unusual position: facing landowner-friendly reforms at the Texas Legislature.
In the tug-of-war over groundwater between two Central Texas counties, he who pumps the most, wins. At least until everyone loses.
The ninety-year-old conservationist and fried-chicken tycoon reflects on land stewardship—and the invaluable lessons he learned as a young door-to-door salesman.
The silver anniversary of a birding festival highlights the contrast between the politics and the ecology of the region.
The antlers are bigger, the gear is better, and the price of admission has shot way up. Welcome to the new world of Texas hunting — if you've got the cash, that is.
Granite, which draws visitors to the park, can also reach high temperatures.
Checking in with nine Harvey survivors a year after Texas Monthly first spoke to them.
A year after Hurricane Harvey brought Houston to its knees, the city is still wrestling with how to prepare for the next great storm. There’s no shortage of good ideas, but in Houston, that’s never been the problem.
The Saharan dust brings us hotter days, hazy skies, and nicer sunsets.
We all know the Gulf of Mexico is brown. Until it isn’t.
There are some bright spots and signs of hope as the area recovers and rebuilds. The fish and birds are waiting for you.
