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FEMA Denies Funding To West Explosion Victims The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still refusing to provide money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and schools, and killed 15 people. |
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Vehicle Inspection Fraud Task Forces Running On Empty In Texas cities with bad air pollution, owners pay to have their vehicles inspected to make sure the engines are running cleanly. Part of that state inspection fee is supposed to go towards enforcement. But StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling tells why there's concern that even though there's a lot of inspection fraud, the efforts to catch it are getting cut. |
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West Texas Oilfield Town Runs Out Of Water Barnhart, a small community about 50 miles southwest of San Angelo in West Texas, has run out of water after the town's only municipal water well failed. Officials say that the water demands of oil drilling are a factor. |
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The Toxic Risk When Hurricanes Hit The Texas Chemical Coast The next hurricane that hits the Texas coast will again put some of the nation's biggest refineries and chemical plants — and the communities near them — at risk. But it won’t be the first time. Looking back at some big storms and the havoc they caused is what StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling did to find out what can go wrong. |
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In Houston, Too Much Fine Dust? In Houston, air pollution worries usually are about ozone, but scientists are paying increasingly close attention to fine dust. It’s more dangerous than ozone, some say, and the EPA will soon decide whether Houston has too much. |
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A Gusher Of Work For Texas Oil & Gas Lawyers In Texas, the "help wanted" sign is out for people who know about oil and gas drilling. But companies aren't hiring just rough-necks and engineers. StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling has the story of billion-dollar deals and six-figure starting salaries. |
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Texas Lawmakers Take $2 Billion Step Toward Sustainable Water Supplies Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill to create a new funding mechanism for water supply projects in Texas. The state faces a water shortage as the population increases while water sources dry up. |
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As Economy Improves, Labor Shortages Threaten While much of the country is still struggling with higher-than-normal unemployment, some key sectors are facing the opposite problem — labor shortages. |
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Will Texas Lawmakers Save the Railroad Commission? If lawmakers don't do something quickly, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state, could disappear. |
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Deadly Chemicals And The Risk When Companies Are Accused of Cutting Corners We've been reporting this week on how much Texas communities know about potentially deadly chemicals used by nearby industries. Officials tell us that the majority of companies play by the rules so that residents and workers know the risks. But when some companies allegedly cut corners to reduce costs, the results can be tragic. |
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Will A Stricter Sulfur Rule Drive Up Gas Prices? The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed slashing the sulfur content of gasoline by 2017. Refiners say the rule would cost billions of dollars to implement. |
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Centerpoint Energy Sending Personnel To Oklahoma To Help Restore Utilities Some 11,000 linemen helped Houston recover from the effects of Hurricane Ike. And Centerpoint Energy is helping Oklahoma recover from the effects of that devastating tornado. |
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Lessons In School Safety And Deadly Chemicals From Galena Park Earlier this week, StateImpact's Dave Fehling reported how it's important for communities and schools to know their neighbors when deadly chemicals are next door at industrial plants. It’s also important for schools to prepare for an emergency. |
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Knowing Your Neighbor When Deadly Chemicals Are Next Door When chemical fertilizer stored at a farm supply depot in the town of West exploded last month, it raised all sorts of questions about safety. Homes and a school that were within a quarter mile of the facility were heavily damaged. But it doesn't take a catastrophic explosion to put a community at risk — especially when chemicals are in the form of a gas. |
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What Sparked The Explosion In West Undetermined State and federal officials investigating the explosion at West Fertilizer say the cause is undetermined. Fifteen died and much of a 37-block area was demolished. |
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West Plant Blast Focus of Criminal Investigation The Texas Rangers and the McLennan County sheriff's office are launching a criminal investigation into the fertilizer plant explosion last month in West. |
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More Than Their Fair Share? Texas County Questions Frack Water Disposal Wells It's a nice surprise: so much oil and natural gas is now being produced here in Texas and other states that our dependence on foreign sources is dropping. While what's coming out of the ground may be great for the nation, there's concern about how to put a by-product of the drilling back into the ground. StateImpact's Dave Fehling reports from South Texas. |
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Governors Of The Gulf Coast Want State Control Of Offshore Drilling Permits Texas Gov. Rick Perry says the federal government can do more to help stimulate offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. At the Offshore Technology Conference here in Houston, Perry along with other Gulf state governors, says offshore drilling is still slower than it used to be before the Deepwater Horizon accident. |
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As OTC Kicks Off, BP Gulf Disaster Still Sets Conference Agenda One of the biggest energy industry gatherings kicks-off this morning in Houston: the Offshore Technology Conference — better known as OTC. It'll feature the latest equipment to drill under the ocean for oil and gas. Many sessions will focus on what has changed since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy. Industry-wide, the industry spotlight has been on land and the drilling technique called "fracking." Reporter Dave Fehling talked with the chairman of the OTC, Steve Balint. |
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Environmental Groups Sue To Compel EPA To Recalculate VOCs Emission Formula Community groups in Texas and Louisiana have filed a lawsuit to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to review formulas used to report the levels of toxic emissions from refineries and chemical plants. |
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Water Plan Funding Bill Sinks In Texas House It was possibly the most high profile piece of legislation at the capital this session. House Bill 11 was a plan to pull $2 Billion from the states rainy day fund, to fund water projects in Texas for the next 50 years. It had the backing of the governor, the state's business community, and many environmental groups. But last night it could not muster the votes to gain approval in the Texas House of Representatives. |
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Cash for Road Repair in Shale Areas Proves Elusive Efforts by state lawmakers to find money to repair South and West Texas roads torn up amid a drilling boom appear to be stalling, according to some officials working on the matter. Officials say that vehicular accidents in these regions are on the rise and that natural gas production could be threatened if the issue isn't addressed. |
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Obama Honors Families At Memorial For West Explosion Victims At a memorial service on Thursday, President Obama and Texas officials honored those who were injured or died in the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion. "Today our prayers are with the families of all who we've lost — the proud sons and daughters of West whose memories will live on in our hearts,” President Obama said. |
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Limiting Environmental Enforcement Raises Fears Of 'Race To The Bottom' It's been called the "Texas miracle" — the way the state has created more jobs than any other. Texas has attracted new businesses — in part through financial and tax incentives, and by promising less regulation. But some economists warn that while that approach may be working for now, the Texas "business-friendly" attitude may cost the state in the environment. |
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Houston Neighborhoods Are Unique Study Case For Air Pollution An air pollution mobile lab will soon roam the streets of Houston — looking for concentrations of particulate matter. |
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Despite Improvements, Houston Still Has Some Of The Dirtiest Air In The Country A new report from the American Lung Association says Houston's air is getting cleaner, but the city still has some of the most polluted air in the country. |
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What Some Students Did To Reduce The 'Concrete Jungle' On Earth Day In honor of Earth Day, Trees for Houston helps students plant trees on the campus of Texas Southern University. The ceremony not only reduces the campus' concrete jungle, but helps to beautify the earth by cleaning the air and producing oxygen. |
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The Country Responds To Explosion At West's Fertilizer Plant The word from the town West right now is that 14 people are confirmed dead, including Dallas firefighter Captain Kenny Harris. That number may grow as Senator Cornyn says 60 people are still unaccounted for. While West attempts to find their feet in the wake of this disaster, the outpouring of support from all over has been heartening. |
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Iowa Community Knows Risks Of Fertilizer But Welcomes Plant Expansion There's a community in Iowa that now has a tragic link to the town of West, Texas. Both communities have had fertilizer plants that have exploded killing and injuring people. |
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Residents Of West, Texas Struggle To Cope With Tragedy Residents are still trying to make sense of what happened in their tiny Texas town of West — just north of Waco. An explosion at a fertilizer plant killed an undetermined amount of people on Wednesday night and injured nearly 200 others. |
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Bill Would Stop Private Lawyers Who Help Counties Sue Polluters Sometimes, private lawyers can receive millions of dollars when they win big lawsuits that are filed on behalf of the government. Later this morning in Austin, a legislative committee is set to consider putting a stop to some of those "contingency fee" arrangements. But some county governments, who use those arrangements to sue companies for polluting the environment, say banning them would have a devastating effect. |
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Texas County Tries To Stop Illegal Dumping Of Oil Waste In one part of Texas where oil drilling is producing a lot of crude, the drilling is also generating a lot of waste. But some of that oily, slimey waste isn't being disposed of legally. StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling has the story of the surprising place where some of it is being dumped. |
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Students Compete For Best Gas Mileage With Home-Built Cars Every year around this time, the streets around Discovery Green turn into a race track and the George R. Brown Convention Center into a giant pit stop. As part of the Shell Eco Marathon, hundreds of student-built cars compete for the highest gas mileage. |
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New Method For Houston Water Users To Dispute High Bills Houston residents may soon have a new tool to dispute unusually high water bills. |
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An Unusual Search Warrant And What It Says About How Texas Regulates Drilling As drilling for oil and gas has surged in Texas, there has been concern over its threat to groundwater. We're taking a look at the state agency that's supposed to be a watchdog on the drilling industry — the oddly-named "Texas Railroad Commission." Critics have contended the railroad commission is far too friendly to the drilling industry, going easy even when it finds pollution violations. |
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API Calls For Less Energy Regulation, More Access To Federal Land The American Petroleum Institute sought to rally support from Houston business leaders to push Washington to enact a comprehensive energy policy. |
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Why Congress Is Turning To The Houston Energy Sector For Tax Reform Advice One of the top legislative priorities in the House of Representatives this year is comprehensive tax reform. Houston energy companies weighed in today with the changes they'd like to see in the tax code. |
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Shifting Oil Sands Economics Work To Houston's Benefit A study by energy research firm IHS CERA provides a fresh economic argument for building the Keystone XL pipeline. |
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Chemical Industry Rides Crest Of Natural Gas Wave Ten years ago, domestic chemical manufacturing looked bound for extinction. But the revolution in natural gas production has given the industry a new lease on life, bringing thousands of new jobs to Greater Houston. |
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Calling Workers: Small Texas Towns, Big Paychecks In some Texas counties, a basic necessity is running low. The state government calls it an "acute shortage." If you think we're talking about water, we're not. The shortage is one of workers. |
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Environmental Justice And The EPA's New Man In Texas It's on-going clash that pits Texas against a powerful federal agency: the EPA. Texas has had a rocky relationship with the environmental regulator, in some cases suing the EPA to stop it from enforcing federal regulations in Texas. Now, there's a new man heading the EPA's regional office. StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling has been looking into what this change-at-the-top might mean to Texas. |
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Water Not Floating To Top With Texas Voters Despite water's saturation of the political priority list, the public still appears ambivalent about Texas' water needs and out of step with state legislators on how to pay for it, according to the latest UT/Texas Tribune Poll |
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Retired NASA Scientists Enter Climate Change Fray Some say climate change is a done-deal and that the only debate is over how to respond to it. But in Texas — where the response could have a big impact on industry — climate change is hotly debated among politicians and scientists. |
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Teed Up: Slicing Texas Tax Breaks Texas is struggling to find enough money to pay for education and other basic services. That's why some lawmakers are looking at tax breaks that are costing the state millions of dollars. StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling begins his story at a golf course. |
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Changing How Texans Pay for Power If this summer turns out as hot and dry as expected, providing enough electricity will be a challenge. But one solution may involve how you spend. |
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Chemical Plant Near Houston On Fire An explosion and fire at a chemical plant has sent plumes of thick, black smoke billowing over several major roads. One injury has been reported from KUHF's Florian Martin. |
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Solar Project Languishes in Deregulated Texas Electricity Texas lawmakers are being asked to pass legislation to promote new ways to make electricity. That's important because the state could face shortages. But why then are some innovative projects on hold? |
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Selling Texas As Oil Boom States Vie For Business There's nothing subtle about how Texas is trying to lure business here from other states. You heard recently that Gov. Perry cut a radio ad to make his pitch directly to Californians. But Texas has competitors who have their own pitches. |
