Past Articles by Mose Buchele
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Replanting Bastrop's Lost Pines Begins This Saturday The "lost pines" of Bastrop County near Austin were decimated by wildfires last year. But this week, the area will take a major step toward recovery. Replanting begins in this Saturday. StateImpact Texas reporter Mose Buchele has the report. |
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Pipeline Could Push Gas Prices Higher The debate over TransCanada’s proposed oil pipeline from the tars sands of Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast has focused largely on the environmental and economic impacts. People in favor, say it will bring jobs and energy security. Opponents say it will damage the environment. But the project might have another consequence that’s been largely overlooked: it could actually raise gas prices for many American consumers. |
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Why Cattle Prices Are At An All-Time High If you're getting ready for the summer grilling season, be warned. You can expect the price of a steak or hamburger to be higher this summer. The reason? Cattle prices have been hitting all-time highs this year. |
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With Noise Pollution Growing at Sea, A Texas Team Looks for Answers When you think about pollution in the ocean from oil drilling and shipping, what comes to mind? The wreck of the Exxon Valdez? The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico? Well, it turns out that the oil industry might be harming the world's oceans in other ways that haven’t received much notice until now. |
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Should We Be Wary Of Natural Gas Cheerleading? Americans have heard a lot lately about the promise of domestic natural gas reserves. New technology has made it possible to extract enough natural gas to — as some say — power the country for the next 100 years. Here in Texas, gas drilling has meant jobs, money, and a re-invigorated energy industry. |
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What It Would Take to Build More Power Plants Texas' population is booming. But its electric grid is strained. The threat of rolling blackouts in the summer has become common. The easy answer is building more power plants to produce electricity. |
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Waiting For The Next Spicewood Beach When Spicewood Beach in Burnet County became the first town to run out of water in the current drought, it raised a lot of questions. How could a town perched on the shores of Lake Travis run dry? And which town could be next? |
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Texas Coal, Mexican Strip Mine At first glance it looks like good news. Carbon emissions in the U.S. have been on the decline in recent years. Texas, the country's biggest CO2 polluter has started turning away from coal as a source of electricity. But that doesn’t mean the coal is staying in the ground. For the StateImpact Texas project, Mose Buchele reports on the growing export of U.S. coal and how it’s affecting one small Texas town. |
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What Happened At The Sandy Creek Power Plant? Rolling blackouts struck Texas once last year. And we went to the brink twice after that. So when an accident at the Sandy Creek power plant outside of Waco delayed more electricity from coming online, it came at exactly the wrong time. For StateImpact Texas, Mose Buchele reports. |
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Giant Prawn In Gulf Could Disrupt Ecosystem Huge shrimp that can grow over a foot long are showing up in nets all along the Gulf Coast. It might sound like a tasty surprise, but as Mose Buchele reports for StateImpact Texas, it's also a mystery that could threaten the ecosystem of the entire Gulf of Mexico. |
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Rick Perry And The Troubles Back Home Despite his fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses earlier this week, Governor Rick Perry says he'll continue campaigning for president. While he's been away, Texans have grappled with the impacts of a historic drought, a newly invigorated fossil-fuel industry and seen continued battles between state policymakers and the federal government over environmental regulation. |
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The Year Of Extreme Texas Weather Years from now, when Texans talk about 2011, they'll probably remember one thing above everything else: the weather. The extreme heat, the drought and the fires that came with them have made this an historic year for Texas. For StateImpact Texas, Mose Buchele reports on some ways the impact of this year's weather will still be felt years from now. |
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Texas Wildfires Scattered Birds To The Wind Bird Watchers across the country are participating in the annual Christmas Bird Count this month. But in Central Texas the tradition has a special importance this year. For StateImpact Texas, Mose Buchele reports the Wildfires in Bastrop County, and across Texas have conservationists paying close attention to local bird populations. |
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Fracking Report Reverberates In Texas A draft report from the Environmental Protection Agency sent shockwaves through the energy industry this week. The report showed that the technique of oil and gas drilling called hydraulic fracturing lead to water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming. What could the findings mean for drilling in Texas? |
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Rain Eases Drought, But Doesn't Break It The Texas Water Development Board heard an update Thursday on the historic drought gripping Texas. |
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Not Pond Scum, Algae Upgrades To Biofuel Algae, that green slimy stuff that ruins swimming trips and clogs drains, is for most people a disgusting nuisance. But not to a group of researchers at UT Austin. StateImpact Texas reporter Mose Buchele takes you into the lab to learn why scientists believe the cars of the future could run on Algae. |
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Natural Gas From Bridge To Barrier The debate over America's vast reserves of natural gas usually focuses on the risks and the benefits. In the benefits column: it's a relatively cheap, it's domestic, and it's a cleaner burning than coal. The risks? Well, that's usually when Hydraulic Fracturing — or fracking — comes up. But StateImpact Texas reporter Mose Buchele reports, recent shifts in the price of natural gas are presenting a whole new set of challenges for America's energy future. |
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Drilling For Shale Gas In Mexico The Eagle Ford Shale formation in South Texas that's made headlines for its abundance of natural gas doesn't end at the Rio Grande. That fact was not lost on the Mexican Government, which recently announced plans to expand its drilling for gas there in an effort for more energy independence. For StateImpact Texas, Mose Buchele reports on the implications for both sides of the border. |
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Despite Political Moves, Tar Sands Crude Will Find A Way To The Gulf Coast Opponents and supporters of the Keystone XL Pipeline have been vocal since the Obama administration's decision which delays construction. The pipeline would bring tar sands from Canada to Texas. Despite the recent decisions, many in Texas think they already know how the cards will fall in the end. |
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This week, KUT News is teaming with NPR on a project highlighting industrial air pollution. NPR reporters, working with the Center for Public Integrity, reviewed never-before published lists compiled by the U-S Environmental Protection Agency to track polluters. Roughly one in 10 factories on the most recent list is in Texas. Some of those facilities have been on the watch list for years. For the KUT/KUHF StateImpact Texas project, Mose Buchele reports on the regulatory environment that allows industries to keep polluting. |
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Intentional Plane Crash Targeting IRS Office in Austin The fire caused by a small plane crash into an IRS office building on Research Blvd. this morning has been contained. Two people in the building were injured. One has been taken to the Brooke Army Medical Center burn unit in San Antonio. The other person is being treated at University Medical Center, Brackenridge. One person remains missing. Mose Buchele was at the scene. |
