Most Recent in Politics:

1Is Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Headed for a Second Term?

2Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

3‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

4On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

5John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

6Texas Congressional Candidate Shannon Hutcheson Defended Corporations Against the Vulnerable. EMILY’s List Endorsed Her Anyway.

Most Recent in Environment:

1Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3As Port Neches Plant Smolders, Trump Rolls Back Safety Rules for Chemical Plants

4Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

5East Texas Rivers Could Become a Boiling Pot for Mussels

6The Long Battle to Stop the Kinder Morgan Pipeline

Most Recent in Border:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2‘We Build the Wall’ Lands in South Texas, Vilifies Priest and Butterfly Refuge

3John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

4Activists Rally for the Closure of Hutto Detention Center as Private Contract Rumors Swirl

5When ICE Emptied Out an All-Women Detention Center in Texas, Chaos Ensued

6The Fear—and Hope—of Living in Sanctuary

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Federal Report Flags High Rates of Sexual Abuse in Texas Juvenile Lockups

2A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement

3Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

4Texas’ Method for Funding Courts is a Colossal Waste of Time and Money

5On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

6Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

Most Recent in Education:

1‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

2The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

3The Cost of Carve-Outs

4Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

5Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

6‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Everyone Wants to End Surprise Medical Billing in Texas, but No One Wants to Pay for It

2The Last Nurse in Memphis, Texas

3The Rural Health Care Crisis, Mapped

4Driving My Life Away

5Scenes from a Rural Hospital’s Final Day

6State Investigators Identify ‘Serious Contractual Violations’ by the Heidi Group

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

4Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

5American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

6Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

Most Recent in Books:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

3I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

4American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.

5Short Story Contest Winner: ‘Dear Mr. Gottlieb’

6Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

Most Recent in Features:

1The Ghosts of Jefferson

2Little Arthouse on the Prairie

3The Clothes that Make the Man

4Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

5Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

6At Home in the World

Most Recent in Essay:

1Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

2A Chain Reaction

3Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

4Up From the Desert

5To Understand the El Paso Massacre, Look to the Long Legacy of Anti-Mexican Violence at the Border

6Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

2Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

3Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

4Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

5Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

6Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

2Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

3Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

4Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

5Parallel Planes

6Options

Tag Archives: coal mining

Freeport LNG plant in Quintana.

by Naveena Sadasivam

The Five Foulest Texas Environmental Stories of 2016

Lowlights include failing to track chemical spills during floods and rejecting the link between earthquakes and fracking.

Tue, Dec 20, 2016 |

Thanks to investigative reporting, this year we learned of new ways the powerful in this state are messing with Texas. From failing to oversee toxic waste injec...Read More

by Naveena Sadasivam

Green Groups Urge Lawmakers: Don’t Leave Taxpayers on the Hook for Coal Cleanup

Tue, Aug 23, 2016 |

Following an Observer investigation into loose coal regulations that could put taxpayers on the hook for mine cleanup, green groups are demanding change....Read More

by Naveena Sadasivam

Mine Games

With little more than a promise, the Texas Railroad Commission is trusting a struggling coal industry to pay for the cost of cleaning up old mines.

Thu, Aug 18, 2016 |

In mid-2014, Texas’ biggest utility, Energy Future Holdings, was about to file for bankruptcy, and Texas regulators suddenly had a big problem on their hands...Read More

Luis Martinez, a Maverick County resident who opposes the Dos Republicas mine, speaks out against the TCEQ's decision to grant the mine a wastewater permit Wednesday. Nearby Elm Creek runs through Martinez's property.

by Naveena Sadasivam

TCEQ: Contested Coal Mine Can Release Wastewater Into Drinking Supply

Locals called the environmental regulators' decision ‘unconscionable.’

Wed, Jul 6, 2016 |

Locals called the TCEQ's decision "unconscionable," saying that wastewater from the mine will pollute drinking water for Maverick County residents....Read More

Bobby Inman Blames the Unions

by Forrest Wilder

Mon, Apr 19, 2010

Updated below Bobby Ray Inman now seems to be blaming labor unions for the West Virginia mining disaster that killed 29 people at the non-union Upper Big Branch...Read More

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