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Environment

A New Generation of Industries Emerges in Texas from Federal Push for Mining Revival

The United States doesn’t produce the minerals and metals needed for renewable energy, microchips, or military technology. Authorities want to change that as quickly as possible.

by Dylan Baddour

Keep Reading

Where the Water Reached

by Brenda Bazán

Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our May/June 2025 Issue

by Gus Bova

Corpus Christi Launches Emergency Water Projects as Reservoirs Dwindle and Industrial Demand Grows 

by Dylan Baddour

A community fridge painted red, green, brown and yellow in a mosaic-like pattern reads "Free food. Give some, take some." It appears to be outside a deli or restaurant. Oct 27, 2023

Community Fridges Fight Hunger and Climate Change

These dropoff sites for free food appeared across the U.S. during the pandemic, reducing waste and methane emissions in the process.

by Max Graham

The sign outside the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality headquarters in Austin, Texas. Oct 13, 2023

Texas Wants to Adopt Outdated Cancer Risk Standard Despite Concerns

The state is proposing to approve a 17-year-old standard that leading scientists and public health officials call inadequate.

by Dylan Baddour

A ground level view of the wall at the U.S / Mexico border, standing under the sun in the desert. Oct 06, 2023

Biden Administration Waives 26 Laws to Accelerate Border Wall Construction

On the campaign trail, the president once promised there would “not be another foot” constructed under his watch.

by Sharon Zhang

An aerial view of an oil and gas refinery on the Gulf Coast in Texas City. Smokestacks and storage containers dot the landscape under a partly cloudy sky. Sep 13, 2023

Texas Bets on Undersea Carbon Capture, Despite Concerns

Critics worry about leakage through rock layers, pipeline safety and the lackluster record of the technology onshore.

by Amal Ahmed

A prisoner sits on his bunk in his white prison uniform, looking at the camera. The feet and legs of another prisoner sitting on an upper bunk is also visible. A cooling fan is installed nearby. Sep 13, 2023

‘It Will Take the Breath Out of You’: Prisoners Describe Extreme Nighttime Heat in Texas Units

TDCJ will allocate $85 million to provide more air conditioning. In the meantime, people are sweltering in their beds.

by Michelle Pitcher

A composite image, showing an outdoor music party glowing with lasers and colorful people on the right, and on the left the cover of The Free People's Village by Sim Kern, which shows a punk smashing a police robot with a baseball bat. Sep 12, 2023

The Free People’s Village: Everyday Life in Solarpunk Texas

In a novelist’s alternative Texas, Al Gore became president and the War on Climate Change began. What could go wrong?

by Texas Observer Staff

A dark-colored SUV plows into a massive puddle of water, spewing from broken pipes at the sidewalk near an urban Texas apartment building in Houston, one of many severe water leaks requiring repairs during the heatwave. Sep 07, 2023

Record Summer Heat Causes Costly Damage to State Water Infrastructure

Conservationists are frustrated as cities contend with thousands of costly leaks as dry soil contracts, causing underground pipes to rupture.

by Dylan Baddour

A lonely figure stands in a dry spring bed, usually full of gushing fresh water. There are drought-struck trees all around the "well" of Jacob's Well. Aug 28, 2023

As Springs Dry Up, a Warning of Future Water Shortages

Heat, drought and booming population growth have stressed the aquifers that supply millions of people.

by Dylan Baddour

x Jul 17, 2023

From Phoenix to Austin, Weeks of ‘Brutal’ Heat Stagger the Southwest

More than a third of the country faced some kind of heat advisory over the weekend.

by Jake Bittle, Grist

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