ICN Texas - Inside Climate News

How a Technology Similar to Fracking Can Store Renewable Energy Underground Without Lithium Batteries

By Dylan Baddour — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Three Houston startups are using fracking-like techniques to create underground storage caverns for pressurized water, which when released drives a turbine to send power to the grid.

By Dylan Baddour

The rapid buildout of wind and solar power generation has set off a race for experimental technologies to capture and store that energy. Several startups in Houston say they’ve developed ways to cache it underground, and one just announced its first commercial project.

Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal

By James Bruggers — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Houston seeks to be a national model for plastic recycling. But a program that started in 2022 hasn’t yet found its footing.

By James Bruggers

This story is a partnership between Inside Climate News and CBS News.

Texas Likely Undercounting Heat-Related Deaths

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Deaths from heat are notoriously difficult to quantify because of how complex and subjective the process is. It leaves officials with an incomplete picture of who heat kills.

By Yuriko Schumacher, Emily Foxhall, Alejandra Martinez, Martha Pskowski, Dylan Baddour

This story is a collaboration between The Texas Tribune and Inside Climate News. Schumacher, Foxhall and Martinez reported for the Tribune, and Pskowski and Baddour reported for ICN.

Federal Appeals Court Reverses Approval of Massive LNG Export Plants in South Texas

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News and Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The Washington D.C. court ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to adequately assess the plants’ environmental justice, climate and air pollution impacts.

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News and Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune

For the second time, a federal court struck down a regulatory agency’s authorization of two controversial, multi-billion-dollar gas export projects in far South Texas, one of which is already under construction.

Study Links Permian Blowouts With Wastewater Injection

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News, and Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Texas Tribune — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Fluids traveled 12 miles underground before reaching an abandoned oil well and shooting to the surface. It’s the first scientific proof of a phenomenon local landowners have long warned was occurring.

By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News, and Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Texas Tribune

Fracking wastewater, injected underground for permanent disposal, traveled 12 miles through geological faults before bursting to the surface through a previously plugged West Texas oil well in 2022, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University.

A Legal Fight Over Legacy Oil Industry Pollution Heats Up in West Texas

By Martha Pskowski — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A “first of its kind” lawsuit contends that oil companies including Chevron failed to properly plug and decommission wells on private property, challenging common assumptions about plugged wells.

By Martha Pskowski

Reporting contributed by Mitch Borden, a reporter at Marfa Public Radio. You can listen to an audio version of the story below.

Three Facilities Contribute Half of Houston’s Chemical Air Pollution

By Dylan Baddour — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 20:43:14 +0000

Air Alliance Houston tallied federal data to list the top polluters in the nation’s capital of oil and gas.

By Dylan Baddour

This story has been updated with additional comments.

New Federal Grants Could Slash U.S. Climate Emissions by Nearly 1 Billion Metric Tons Through 2050

By Kristoffer Tigue, Marianne Lavelle — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 00:10:57 +0000

Recipients in 30 states will share from a pot of $4.3 billion to tackle clean energy and emissions reduction projects.

By Kristoffer Tigue, Marianne Lavelle

The Biden administration on Monday announced that it’s awarding $4.3 billion in federal grants to projects in 30 states aimed at boosting clean energy development and other efforts to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Funds to Help Low-Income Families With Summer Electric Bills Are Stretched Thin

By Martha Pskowski, Jenaye Johnson — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A federal program helps people in poverty cover the costs of heat and cooling. But advocates say it disadvantages states like Texas and Arizona, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.

By Martha Pskowski, Jenaye Johnson

In San Elizario, Texas, tucked between cotton fields and the U.S.-Mexico border fence, nearly 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Rooftop Solar Was Having a Moment in Texas Before Beryl. What Happens Now?

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The Lone Star State has seen a recent surge in small-scale solar development. Grid instability could push more residents to consider adoption.

By Dan Gearino

While much of the Houston area suffered through heat and electricity failures following Hurricane Beryl last week, Bill Swann never lost power.