Articles tagged: Climate Change
One Researcher’s Quest to Quantify the Environmental Cost of Abandoned Oil Wells
Unplugged wells could be quietly leaking millions of pounds of methane in West Texas.
This story is one installment of a larger project by Grist and The Texas Observer. Support comes from the Pulitzer Center. Amy Townsend-Small has been chasing...Read More
Waves of Abandonment
The Permian Basin is ground zero for a billion-dollar surge of zombie oil wells.
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‘No Teeth and No Funding’: How Regulators Failed to Police the Oil Industry
Budget cuts and long term disinvestment in local environmental agencies have hobbled the states’ ability to oversee fracking.
This story is one installment of a larger project by Grist and The Texas Observer. Support comes from the Pulitzer Center. The fracking boom in the Permian Ba...Read More
Nobody Warned Texans About the Public Health Risks of the Winter Storm
Without advance warning about the true scale of power outages and the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning, local officials say they were caught off guard, leaving residents to fend for themselves.
This story was published in partnership with Southerly. Sheletta Brundidge watched from Cottage Grove, Minn., as severe winter weather descended on her hometown...Read More
Industrial Facilities Released Millions of Pounds of Illegal Pollution During the Winter Storm
Many of them won’t face any consequences for the excess emissions that they pumped into the air, endangering the lives of communities downwind.
When the lights went off during the winter storm last month in Galena Park, a city of 10,000 people on the east side of Houston, an eerie orange glow emanated f...Read More
Loon Star: The Great Freeze
Playing the blame game.
To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here. After Texas’ electrical gri...Read More
A Texas City Had a Bold New Climate Plan—Until a Gas Company Got Involved
The fossil fuel industry is using the same playbook to fight city climate plans around the country.
This story is a collaboration from Floodlight and was also published in the Guardian and the San Antonio Report. When the city of Austin drafted a plan to s...Read More
The Lege This Week: Adventures in Circular Finger Pointing
The main theme to emerge from the Lege’s blackout hearings? Mea culpas for thee, but not for me.
Welcome to the 87th Legislative Session. Since the last session came to a close in June 2019, Texas has been hit by an unrestrained pandemic and a crippling eco...Read More
ERCOT Increased Revenue and Executive Pay In Years Before Texas Power Outages
Top ERCOT officials collected six-figure salaries while failing to prepare for extreme weather events that they were warned about.
Bill Magness sat in the Texas Senate chamber for several hours Thursday, defending himself and the Electric Reliability Corporation of Texas (ERCOT) that he run...Read More