INSIDER
CPS Energy’s executive team shared a single message Friday on all company fronts: the utility company is ready for the summer. The message was affirmed by Rudy Garza, the utility’s president and CEO.
At least four companies say they are prepared to treat the water well enough to be released into rivers in West Texas. Environmental groups say the state is moving too fast.
The deal allocates $1 billion a year to water projects for 20 years, which some groups estimate is a fraction of what Texas needs to save its water supply.
Senate Bill 6, which now heads to the governor’s desk, gives the state’s electricity managers the ability to shut power to large consumers during emergencies.
Federal action would be needed to make the change legal. Lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have debated the question for decades.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas anticipates that the power grid will handle the increased demand, largely thanks to solar power.
Across Texas, abandoned wells are erupting with chemical-infused liquid and some have created massive lakes of contaminated water. Regulators say they need more money to address the problem.
The Texas Legislature has also invested millions in research to clean the fracking wastewater. Critics say it’s not a viable solution to the state’s water crisis.
The legislation would put new requirements on wind and solar companies that oil and gas companies in Texas do not face.
The lawmakers behind the bill promised there would not be an increase in the number of days the beach is closed.
Reps. Tom Craddick and Brooks Landgraf want to divert 10% of taxes collected on oil and gas production to help budget-strapped counties keep up with growth.
The state’s water supply faces numerous threats. And by one estimate, the state’s municipal supply will not meet demand by 2030 if there’s a severe drought and no water solutions are implemented.
The bill would have set deadlines for the oil and gas industry to plug inactive wells, which can pose a danger to the environment.
The Legislature has tried to clamp down on renewable energy resources in the past, but many lawmakers are recognizing the need to support all types of generation to meet record demand growth.
The San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) Board of Trustees approved the designs for two libraries to receive rooftop and parking canopy solar installations amid a larger push to retrofit municipal structures underway across the city.
San Antonio Public Library Board of Trustees will consider approving a project to install solar panels at nine branches across the city, part of an ongoing city initiative to retrofit municipal infrastructure.
All Texans connected to the state grid will now pay for the generators rather than just CenterPoint customers.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its Texas Infrastructure Report Card on Tuesday, which provides a sobering assessment of the state's ailing infrastructure.
A naturalized citizen, along with other business leaders, are working to create new resources for undocumented people living in the Permian Basin.
The terminal continues an oil export infrastructure buildout that pushes growth in U.S. oil production as momentum fades on a phase-out of fossil fuels.
Some Texans who install residential batteries, solar panels and smart thermostats can now send power back to the grid and get a credit on their bill.
The 5.0 magnitude earthquake is tied for the sixth strongest in state history. Scientists have warned for years that increased fracking in West Texas is causing higher earthquake activity.
Some experts are skeptical the grid would see as much demand growth as ERCOT predicts, and other ERCOT models showed things getting tight but not tipping into a deficit.
San Antonio city officials hope the construction of a large-scale solar program can push the city closer to sustainability and efficiency while also saving taxpayer dollars.
Scott Mason IV, a former deputy energy secretary for Oklahoma and member of the Cherokee nation, is the new administrator for the region that covers Texas and four neighboring states.
Nearly 40,000 homes in San Antonio are receiving part of their electricity from a newly repowered wind farm located almost 150 miles south of the city.
Two years after lawmakers created a $10 million program to address leaking wells in rural counties, none of the money has been distributed.
Gov. Greg Abbott said cutting taxes is a top priority, however, state lawmakers don’t have as much money to plug into tax cuts as they did two years ago.
Most countries in fast-growing Southeast Asia are looking to develop nuclear energy in their quest for cleaner and more reliable energy.
Houston’s main electrical company backed off plans to raise rates after facing sharp criticism for its response to massive power outages after Hurricane Beryl.
Some residents see the charging stations as an economic boom to the town, while others find it an assault on the oil and gas industry in Texas.
The new rule modernizes some aspects of commercial oilfield waste disposal and recycling. But rules for burying oilfield waste on private property remain limited.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere and is 80 times the potency of carbon dioxide.
From debating school vouchers and improving the state’s water supply to reining in property taxes, the GOP-led body will look to pass its conservative priorities amid fighting within the party.
San Miguel Electric Cooperative's plan to turn into a solar and battery plant will leave only 14 coal-fired power plants in the state.
The Public Utility Commission found that the performance credit mechanism, a financial tool the Legislature capped at $1 billion, would only marginally improve reliability of the state power grid.
Texas regulators are taking public comment about how they should implement an EPA rule to reduce methane leaks from the oil and gas industry.
Oilfield wastewater injected underground is causing earthquakes and blowouts. Now, pilot projects are exploring whether this water could be treated and used to grow crops.
ERCOT says conditions this winter could spark extreme cold, but additional power supply and continued weatherization efforts will lower the risk of power outages.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted the rule amid surging demand for power across the state and a growing crypto mining industry in Texas.
The proposal comes after the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency said it needs more money to plug wells that are in some instances erupting.
The three-member board oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry. The agency has faced criticism over safety concerns linked to fracking, well blowouts and groundwater protection.
Abandoned wells in the Permian Basin are increasingly erupting with briney, polluted water. The Texas Railroad Commission says it needs emergency money to respond.
Bexar County is expected to use a Department of Energy grant to better track greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the region, developing a county-wide GHG emissions inventory assessment in response to high local ozone levels.
CPS Energy will hold a public input session on Monday in downtown San Antonio to offer community members and stakeholders the opportunity to engage with board members directly.
Incumbent Christi Craddick is touting the health of the Texas energy industry and its impact on the economy. Her top opponent says regulation on the commission is too lax.
Experts warn that more blowouts should be expected unless oil and gas companies change their methods.
The examination of Deloitte’s existing contracts comes after it failed to catch red flags in a company’s application for a loan to build or upgrade power plants in the state.
Former employees say the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gutted the unit soon after the fracking boom swept the state oil industry. The operation never returned to what it was before.
Residents were worried about the impact on their drinking water while business leaders were excited for the new jobs.
CPS Energy’s J.K. Spruce coal power plant released "seven million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, making it the 42nd-worst climate polluter in the country," according to a study published by the Frontier Group.
The lawsuit claims federal regulators have undermined the Texas oil and gas industry by misusing environmental law, negatively impacting drilling and production.
The smell of oil wells has long permeated Caldwell County, near Austin and San Antonio. Now researchers have documented wells releasing dangerous amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas.
Lawmakers tasked the Public Utility Commission with overseeing the Texas Energy Fund, though the agency has no experience running a loan program.
Texas isn’t expected to take a direct hit when the storm makes landfall as a hurricane. But storm surge and dangerous winds are possible.
While environmentalists say the new rules don’t do enough to protect groundwater, oil and gas operators are contesting stricter requirements for waste pits near wells.
The $30 million initiative advances the city’s goal of attaining a net zero capacity for all municipal buildings by 2040, a step outlined in the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.
The 23-page document highlights measures to address energy equity, increase sustainability and curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Before the pandemic, Ben Bilbrey worked with some of the largest oil companies. Now he’s waiting for the phone to ring.
This week’s ruling was the latest twist since cities and groups in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sued to block the projects.
No state agency is taking responsibility for making sure the privately built lines that power many oil and gas sites are safe. Such lines have been blamed for sparking two recent Panhandle fires.
Jason Wells told regulators the company will launch a new outage tracker by Aug. 1. It will also trim more tree limbs near power lines and hire an executive to focus on emergency response.
The company’s power outages in July have drawn the ire of state leaders. Here’s what you need to know.
The program helps low-income people with heating and cooling bills, but advocates say it disadvantages Texas and other warm-weather states, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.
In Harris County, more federal money is available to help low- and moderate-income residents install rooftop solar.
More than 200,000 CenterPoint Energy customers without power struggle with the heat one week after Hurricane Beryl swept through southeast Texas.
Abbott demanded that the utility company produce a plan by the end of July outlining how it will improve power reliability ahead of future storms.
According to state filings, the utility is restoring power at a relatively quicker pace than after prior storms. Texans are still fed up.
Federal tax incentives are available to weatherize your house and switch to more energy efficient appliances. Rebates are coming.
The $1.2 million will enhance energy efficiency, mitigate climate pollution associated with transportation-related emissions and reduce energy consumption.
Truckers say they can wait up to 18 hours without pay to load or unload fracking sand. The drilling sites often lack restrooms.
Southwest Research Institute built a power plant from the ground up, and its energy production is attracting attention.
The prediction by ERCOT reflects a new way of counting future demand and a spike in requests to connect to the grid from large power users.
Short of an immediate statewide response, Texans who lost homes and livestock are taking matters into their own hands to better prepare their property for a wildfire.
The dunes sagebrush lizard lives in the same West Texas land that supports the state’s biggest oil and gas fields, and industry leaders say the new designation will hurt drilling and production.
The biggest recipient of campaign donations from the industry isn’t Donald Trump or President Joe Biden, it’s a Texas House member who represents part of the Permian Basin.
