Environment
Farmers and Ranchers Take a Hit from Harvey, but the Exact Toll is Unknown
After Failing to Prop Up Coal in Texas, Rick Perry is Trying Again Nationwide
As energy secretary, Perry is proposing to guarantee profits for uncompetitive coal plants in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
In late 2005, then-Governor Rick Perry was in the middle of a protracted battle with a coalition of environmentalists, renewable energy advocates, mayors and lo...Read More
In New Rule, Trump EPA Allows Texas Coal Plants to Pollute Even More Than They Already Do
Past administrations aimed to use the regulation to reduce haze-causing pollution in the Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks.
In a gift to the struggling coal industry, a new air pollution rule finalized by the EPA will allow Texas coal plants to emit almost twice as much sulfur dioxid...Read More
Costs for Rural Towns Surge after Hurricane Harvey Hits Water Systems
In Patton Village, some residents went weeks without access to clean drinking water, and now their sewer system is running on a “Band-aid.”
Patton Village had just started using its new $10 million wastewater treatment system when Hurricane Harvey wrecked it last month. Floodwaters fried the pumps...Read More
Destruction of Lizard’s West Texas Habitat 10 Times Worse Than Previously Thought
About 2,700 acres of the lizard’s habitat have been disturbed by oil and gas development and sand mining since 2012.
In 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made the controversial decision not to list the dunes sagebrush lizard, a three-inch reptile native to the Wes...Read More
Reports of Livestock Deaths, Other Ag Losses Trickle in After Harvey
The Texas Animal Health Commission and USDA, however, are mum on an estimated death toll.
At the peak of Harvey’s flooding in southeast Texas, Chambers County rancher Richie Devillier couldn’t distinguish between the westbound lane of Interstate ...Read More
Flood Expert Jim Blackburn: Houston Must Plan or Perish
Blackburn says an “insidious” and “intellectually bankrupt” system favoring developers has worsened flooding in Houston.
For more than three decades, environmental attorney Jim Blackburn has been sounding the alarm about how rampant development is worsening the effects of hurrican...Read More
Experts: Much of Harvey-Related Air Pollution was Preventable
About 40 petrochemical companies released more than 5.5 million pounds of hazardous chemicals as a result of the hurricane.
Huge releases of hazardous air pollutants during Hurricane Harvey could’ve been prevented if companies had simply shut down their plants ahead of time or used...Read More
‘Look & See’ Is a Love Letter to Family Farming, Rural America and Wendell Berry
The film turns out to be less about Berry himself and more about the thing that worries him most: the industrialization of American agriculture....Read More
The Impossible City
Houston was built on a stubborn defiance of nature. As the city recovers from Hurricane Harvey, that same attitude will be on display — for better or worse.
Houston was built on a stubborn defiance of nature. As the city recovers from Hurricane Harvey, that same attitude will be on display — for better or worse....Read More