Adaptation. Mitigation. Justice.
The natural gas industry raked in billions during the winter grid failure and Governor Abbott let them off the hook. He was rewarded with a huge campaign contribution from the grid collapse’s biggest profiteer. Justin Miller The Texas electric grid collapse during the February winter storm killed hundreds of Texans […]
They used their car to stay warm when a winter storm brought down the Texas power grid. In a state that doesn’t require carbon monoxide alarms in homes, they had no warning they were poisoning themselves. Perla Trevizo, Ren Larson, Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune; Mike Hixenbaugh and […]
The Texas Railroad Commission’s about-face on natural gas flaring can be partially linked to pressure from European companies concerned about Texas’ dirty gas. Amal Ahmed | Texas Observer In February, members of the Texas Railroad Commission finally got the message. The three commissioners of the regulatory body that oversees the […]
If Texas lawmakers really cared about ‘customer choice,’ HB 17, a bill to mandate gas hook-ups in new buildings, would not just prevent the ‘discrimination’ against fossil fuels but help revive the oil lamp industry, coal cellars, and cow dung dealers. Greg Harman To slow the manifestation of our climate […]
Millions of miles of oil and gas pipelines stitch across the United States. And there are few rules protecting property owners when they are abandoned, potentially collapsing, exploding, or leaking dangerous chemicals. Kate Wheeling | Nexus Media Some years ago, David Howell got a call from a landowner in Central […]
CPS Energy’s CEO blamed failed conservation by local residents as a key contributor to the region’s multi-day blackout. Yet the conservation programs are voluntary, underfunded … and the utility didn’t send a single Spanish-language emergency tweet until Texas was 12 hours from near-total grid collapse. Let’s talk. Greg Harman You […]
Power plants without insulation failed, leading to sustained blackouts. But poor insulation in homes across the state made it even harder to stay warm. Amal Ahed | Texas Observer This story was published in partnership with Southerly. When the temperature dropped into the single digits last Monday night, Edilisa wrapped […]
This week, a blast of Arctic air has engulfed much of the central US, bringing freezing conditions and record low temperatures to many states. Texas, in particular, has been badly affected, with grid operators hit by power outages and struggling to provide electricity to millions of residents. The events have […]
Frozen Edition: Enter Polar VorTex Arctic weather loosed by a disrupted jet stream poured over the Great Plains and fanned across Texas this week, turning the state into a frozen huddled mess. New record lows were set in San Antonio for days in a row. Unprecedented and disastrous icy blackouts […]
Blistering Arctic weather poured into Texas this week, freezing wind farms and complicating debate over a needed transition to renewable energy. Greg Harman Two weeks ago, San Antonio’s city-owned utility, CPS Energy, published the Flexible Path Resource Plan (PDF), a report purporting to forecast the cost of moving off coal […]
Welcome to the second edition of your weekly ecological, commonsensical, and anti-commercial news wrap for the Greater San Antonio and South Texas bioregions (i.e., the watersheds of the San Antonio, Medina, and Guadalupe Rivers as well as the wider Gulf they feed). (Oh, and Happy Pigskin Superspreader Day! Please wear […]
What a time to start a weekly news wrap-up on the climate justice front. Stories of sweeping and rapid change have followed the incoming Biden Administration: reentering Paris and punking the KeystoneXL pipeline. On this front, a number of outlets have you covered. WaPo has (almost) all the executive-order action […]