West unveils memorial six years after fertilizer plant explosion killed 15
The memorial is about 100 yards away from where the fertilizer plant once stood and has a reflecting pool surrounded by 15 plaques — one for each person who died. Full Story
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![A vehicle near the remains of a fertilizer plant burning after an explosion in West, Texas, near Waco.]()
Credit: Mike Stone / Bay Area News -
A creek flowing to the Colorado River turned black. Now the state has sued the alleged polluter.
Residents near Altair began complaining that Skull Creek reeked of chemicals. The Texas attorney general's office says a local company is to blame. Full Story
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![Contaminated black water flows through Skull Creek and crosses over a country road downstream from Inland Environmental & Remediation, Inc., near Columbus, Texas, on April 15, 2019.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Trump issues executive orders seeking to speed up oil and gas pipeline projects
Oil and gas companies have complained that protests and court cases have slowed construction of pipelines needed as U.S. fossil fuel production expands. Full Story
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![President Donald Trump signs an executive order on energy and infrastructure during a campaign event at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center in Crosby on April 10, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria -
Why has Texas suddenly decided to immediately sue industrial polluters?
In recent weeks, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has swiftly sued two companies over major fires at their Houston-area plants. It's a dramatic departure from the state's usual approach to environmental enforcement. Full Story
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![Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, on March 18, 2019.]()
Credit: Jaimie Meldrum/Handout via REUTERS -
Texas environmental chief: There's still a fire risk at Deer Park facility
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Toby Baker told a special panel of state senators on Thursday that first responders are still actively managing an incident at a Houston-area petrochemical facility that began last month. Full Story
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Environmentalists take petrochemical giant Formosa to court over plastics pollution
For years, Diane Wilson has tried to get Formosa Plastics Corp. to stop discharging plastic pellets from its sprawling petrochemical complex on the Central Texas coast. This week, she's getting her day in court. Full Story
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![Diane Wilson organizes bags of that contain plastic pellet samples she's collected over the past three years. Seadrift, Texas. March 20, 2019.]()
Credit: Emree Weaver / The Texas Tribune -
Texas sues company behind Deer Park terminal fire
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an environmental lawsuit against Intercontinental Terminals late Friday seeking tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Full Story
![Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, on March 18, 2019.]()
Credit: Jaimie Meldrum/Handout via REUTERS -
Shelter-in-place order lifted in Deer Park after benzene levels decline
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said that at the maximum levels detected, the benzene levels could cause headaches and nausea, but no long-term effects. State Rep. Briscoe Cain has called for an investigation into the incident. Full Story
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Laredo officials want to use border wall money to fund a riverfront project
A decade ago, Laredo leaders hatched an idea for a riverfront development aimed at luring more people to downtown. Now they're trying to get the federal government to make it part of President Donald Trump's border wall. Full Story
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Credit: Ulysses Romero for The Texas Tribune -
Deer Park terminal fire extinguished after three days of burning
A fire that broke out Sunday morning at a petrochemical storage facility in the industrial Houston suburb stopped burning overnight. Full Story
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![A thick layer of smoke hangs in the air from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, Texas, U.S., March 18, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
State regulators: No 'immediate health concerns' from Deer Park terminal fire
In a statement Monday afternoon, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said air quality monitoring "had not detected any immediate health concerns at ground level" amid a multi-tank fire at a petrochemical storage facility near Houston. Full Story
![Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, on March 18, 2019.]()
Credit: Jaimie Meldrum/Handout via REUTERS -
Post-Harvey, Texas State Aquarium seeks funds for new wildlife rescue center
Before Hurricane Harvey, state aquarium staff evacuated turtles, stingrays, dolphins and other recovering animals from an aging rescue center they feared would blow away. Now, they're asking the state for help to build a new facility. Full Story
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![Senior Wildlife Care Specialist Rico Olvera discusses a green sea turtle whose shell was injured by a boat propeller blade and suffers from a disease called fibropapilloma. The sea turtle is housed at the Texas State Aquarium Wildlife Rescue facility.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Explosions from unregulated pipelines can kill in Texas while energy companies go unpunished
People can die when small rural pipelines called "gathering lines" explode. But after decades of talk among industry representatives and regulators, the death of a little girl in Texas serves as a reminder that there are still no rules. Full Story
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![A firefighter tamps out flames shortly after an explosion destroyed the Tercero family's home outside Midland.]()
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Report: Harris County buyouts of flooded homes have been less than strategic
A new study by The Nature Conservancy and Texas A&M University says it's more cost effective to buy out homes in clusters instead of an uncoordinated, checkerboard approach. Full Story
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![People walk along the Barker Reservoir Dam in Houston on Tuesday, Aug 29, 2017. Torrential rains from Hurricane Harvey caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water from the reservoir, aggravating flooding in neighborhoods below the dam.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Railroad commissioners voice doubts that Permian Basin flaring is more prevalent than reported
The Environmental Defense Fund concluded that oil producers burned off more natural gas than they reported to the state. But Texas officials expressed skepticism of those findings during a state Senate hearing Wednesday. Full Story
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![A gas flare burns bright on a production site northeast of Andrews, Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Abbott, other Texas officials urge feds to clear way for Harvey money
The state has been waiting a year for the federal government to set rules for how $4.3 billion in disaster recovery grants can be spent. Full Story
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![A man walks through floodwaters after surveying his property in Rockport, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey, on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017.]()
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Report: Unauthorized air pollution in Texas up 27 percent in 2017
An analysis by the research arm of Environment Texas found that 275 companies across the state reported emitting 63 million pounds of hazardous and climate-warming pollutants from their facilities in 2017. Full Story
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![Sign indicating the presence of poison gas in Pecos County, Texas.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
State lawmakers aim to lock in funding for Texas parks, historic sites
In 1993, the Legislature passed a law that said state parks and historic sites could receive all of the money generated by a tax on the sale of sporting goods. Since then, state lawmakers have given the parks department only about 40 percent of those collections. Full Story
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![Balmorhea State Park.]()
Credit: Chase A. Fountain/Texas Parks and Wildlife Department -
Report: Permian Basin oil producers flaring more natural gas than they told the state
An analysis of government satellite data by the Environmental Defense Fund shows that the amount of natural gas that energy companies burned off in 2017 is twice as high as what they reported to state regulators. Full Story
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![A flare burns on May 24, 2018, atop a drill pad on land near Carlsbad, N.M., that Wayne Smith leased for ranching before his death in October. The development covered seven times more acreage than the Bureau of Land Management said would be used, Smith said in May.]()
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After Hurricane Harvey, Texas senator eyes using state's savings for flood control
State Sen. Charles Perry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Water and Rural Affairs, has a package of bills that could create Texas' first statewide flood plan. He says coastal Texans aren't the only ones at risk of property loss. Full Story
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![Record rainfall in Llano and Burnet counties in the Texas Hill Country cause major flooding in Marble Falls on Oct. 16, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
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