Skip to main content
Topics

Environment

The latest environment news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Go On a Ride With Car2Go

    By Elise Hu

    Leaders in Austin are hoping the next big thing in transportation comes in a tiny Smart car. Watch as an Austin Car2Go user demonstrates how the program works. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail
    Credit: Justin Dehn

  • Driven to Share

    By Elise Hu

    Austin is hoping the next big thing comes in a tiny car: It's the first North American city to pilot a car-sharing program promising the possibility of less congestion and lower emissions. Full Story 

  • The Applicant

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Can an energy regulator who’s on the board of an entity he oversees make a play for the top job there? Industry and government sources say that’s what Barry Smitherman, the chairman of Texas’ influential Public Utility Commission, is doing, though Smitherman won't say whether he's in the running. Full Story 

    Barry Smitherman

  • To Dump or Not to Dump?

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    A proposed rule would allow more low-level radioactive waste to be transported, processed, and stored in West Texas. People turned out to speak Monday at the State Capitol about it. Andrews County, near the New Mexico border, currently accepts and stores hazardous waste, and as KUT’s Erika Aguilar reports, the list of its clients appears about to expand. Full Story 

  • To Dump or Not to Dump?

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    Andrews County's hazardous waste holdings might be expanding soon. A proposed rule would allow more low-level radioactive waste to be transported, processed and stored in West Texas, and regulators are listening to public comments, Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports. Full Story 

    State Representative Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, speaks out against a proposed rule change at the State Capitol. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will decide whether more states can send their waste to West Texas.
    Credit: Erik Reyna, KUT

  • Something in the Air

    By Julie Moody, KUT News

    The Clean Air Force of Central Texas is warning a five-county area that it’s in danger of failing to meet federal requirements for ground level ozone. New EPA standards that went into effect this past January, and this may be the most challenging ozone season in the region’s history. Julie Moody of KUT News filed this report. Full Story 

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Grissom on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to stay Hank Skinner's execution, Thevenot on the myth of Texas textbook influence, Rapoport on the wild card who was just elected to the State Board of Education, Ramshaw on the price of health care reform, Philpott on the just-enacted prohibition on dropping kids from the state's health insurance rolls, M. Smith on the best little pole tax in Texas, Ramsey on the first corporate political ad and the reality of 2011 redistricting, Stiles on the fastest-growing Texas counties, Aguilar on the vacany at top of Customs and Border Protection at the worst possible time, Galbraith on the state's lack of renewable energy sources other than wind and its investment in efficiency, and Hu and Hamilton on the runoffs to come in House districts 52 and 127. The best of our best from March 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • Don't Blow It

    By Kate Galbraith

    Texas' wind power prowess is well known: Turbines have been popping up like weeds, and we now have three times the wind power installed as the next closest state. But other renewable energy sources have lagged here. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Investing in Efficiency

    By Kate Galbraith

    Texans have always been far better at making energy than saving it. But if a proposal before the Public Utility Commission gets approved this year, buildings and appliances would need to become much more energy efficient by 2014. Electric providers across the state would be required to offset 50 percent of their customers' growth in usage with energy-efficiency measures — well above the current 20 percent requirement set by the Legislature. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Grissom on the 1.2 million Texans who've lost their licenses under the Driver Responsibility Act and the impenetrable black box that is the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Ramshaw and Kraft on nurses with substance abuse problems and rehabilitation that can get them back to work, M. Smith finds it's not easy being Rick Green, Stiles on counting Texans (and everybody else), Rapoport on the State Board of Education's war with itself and the runoff in SBOE District 10, Thevenot's revealing interview with a big-city superintendent on closing bad schools, Aguilar on the tensions over water on the Texas-Mexico border, Hamilton on the new Coffee Party, Hu on Kesha Rogers and why her party doesn't want her, Philpott on the runoff in HD-47, Ramsey on Bill White and the politics of taxes, and E. Smith's conversation with Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heleimann: The best of our best from March 15 to 19. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • A Border Runs Through It

    By Julián Aguilar

    At the heart of America's symbiotic relationship with Mexico is a long-standing and sometimes tense agreement over an issue more far-reaching than homeland security and immigration: water. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Thevenot on the non-stop wonder that is the State Board of Education and its latest efforts to set curriculum standards, E. Smith's post-election sit-down interview with Bill White at TribLive made some news and got the November pugilism started, Ramshaw on whether it makes sense for the state to call patients and remind them to take their pills, and on the state's botched attempt to save baby blood samples for medical research, Hamilton's interview with Steve Murdock on the state's demographic destiny, M. Smith on whooping cranes, fresh water, and an effort to use the endangered species act to protect them both, Grissom on potties, pickups, and other equipment purchased with federal homeland security money and Stiles' latest data and map on where that money went, Aguilar on the "voluntary fasting" protesting conditions and treatment at an immigrant detention facility, Kreighbaum on football, the new sport at UTSA, and Philpott on Rick Perry and Bill White retooling their appeals for the general election. The best of our best from March 8 to 12, 2010. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • Data App: Homeland $ecurity

    By Matt Stiles

    Loving County, in far West Texas, spent about $1,100 per resident in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant funds from 2003 to 2008. Compare that with Harris County, which spent less than $6 per resident. Contemplate the disparity — and search for individual purchases with DHS grant money — using our latest data application. Full Story