The 2023 Texas Tribune Festival in photos
Here’s a look back at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival through the eyes of Tribune photographers. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ac671bb660bb0c8cb0408718bc498b16/0923%20Joe%20Manchin%20TTF23%20EH%2009%20RE-EDIT.jpg)
-
![Evan Smith meets backstage with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, before the start of the closing keynote at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, TX on Sept. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas leads the nation in oil production. What about industry-related deaths?
An industry leader in the Permian Basin said the new report proves safety regulations are helping. Other observers say more data is needed to understand risks of extraction. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/694033ead65bd1226ebaaecdad88e1ab/Gardendale%20Permian%20Basin%20EH%20TT%2007.jpg)
![The sun begins to set behind a pumpjack site in Gardendale on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
As federal money flows to carbon capture and storage, Texas bets on an undersea bonanza
The state is awarding offshore leases to oil and gas companies that hope to bury heat-trapping carbon dioxide deep beneath the seafloor. But critics worry about leakage and the lackluster record of carbon capture facilities onshore. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/bc1ac99d726e96f42ca95512028f2846/Offshore%20Drilling%20Platform%20REUTERS%20TT.jpg)
![Unused oil rigs sit in the Gulf of Mexico near Port Fourchon, Louisiana August 11, 2010.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Lee Celano -
As brutal heat tests Texas’ power grid, batteries play a small but growing role in keeping the lights on
This summer, industrial scale batteries have helped boost the energy supply during critical evening hours. Battery storage represents a small fraction of Texas’ energy mix now, but it’s expected to rise sharply in coming years. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/fc01e2ff6d63f9e3bc3e5ea17245b133/Energy%20Storage%20Battery%20REUTERS.jpg)
![An engineer walks past battery banks and inverters at GlidePath's Byrd Ranch energy storage facility in Sweeny, on May 23, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
U.S. Rep. Randy Weber concerned Texas projects hurt amid Freedom Caucus budget fight
The far-right congressman from Friendswood still backs the conservative push to lower spending, but worries bipartisan Texas projects have been impacted. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ea8199490be6d9b9cd8abb1f5b91552d/0225%20Randy%20Weber.JPG)
![U.S. Representative Randy Weber (R-TX) speaks at a House Freedom Caucus press conference about the Equality Act on February 25, 2021 in Washington DC.]()
Credit: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via REUTERS -
EPA’s inspector general says agency isn’t enforcing benzene pollution rules at refineries in Texas, nationally
A report by the federal environmental agency’s internal watchdog found that EPA is failing to enforce its own pollution limits for the known carcinogen at many refineries — including some in Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/71ba0176a015ddf376fe3812aeac4f3c/0226%20ITC%20Scene%20Setters%20MF%2010.jpg)
![A Deer Park neighborhood next to Highway 225, which borders the refineries, petrochemical plants and industrial storage tanks that line the Houston Ship Channel. In 2019, air quality inspectors found that high levels of benzene emissions had wafted across the highway and into residential areas of Deer Park in the weeks after the ITC chemical fire was extinguished.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune/Public Health Watch -
Texas avoids rolling blackouts during evening grid emergency
ERCOT has called on generators to push all available electricity to the grid as rising demand threatens to surpass the state’s power supply. If that fails, rolling blackouts are likely to begin. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/013aaca3f8b4cc2b217bafbed730cda0/ERCOT%20Command%20Center%20REUTERS%20TT%2002.jpg)
![Reliability Coordinators monitored the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) command center in Taylor in 2012.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Julia Robinson -
Texans again asked to conserve power Thursday, the 11th time this summer
A day after declaring emergency conditions for the first time this summer, ERCOT is asking residents to reduce how much power they use between 5 and 9 p.m. Thursday as continued high temperatures push the power grid into tight conditions. Full Story
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
How ERCOT is narrowly getting through an extreme summer — and how experts say it could do better
Record-high power demand and faltering electricity sources have tested the grid in the past month, forcing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to dig deep into its toolbox to keep power flowing. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6512cfe0eabff7d65308d835551664c7/Gardendale%20Power%20JF%2001.jpg)
![Powerlines crisscross the Permian Basin landscape, south of Gardendale, on 2018.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
ERCOT’s pleas for power conservation raise concerns: Are Texans tuning them out?
Repetitive power conservation appeals by the state’s grid operator face a challenge: Texans becoming less responsive to calls. Past conservation requests have helped reduce 100,000 homes worth of power demand on the grid. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/4f8db9b2e602c5dfe8255f19aff8b720/ERCOT%20Command%20Center%20REUTERS%20TT%2001.jpg)
![Reliability Coordinators monitored the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) command center in Taylor in 2012.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Julia Robinson -
The U.S. government hoped companies would want to build wind farms off the Texas coast. No one did.
Offshore wind advocates blame Texas’ antagonistic political climate for the lack of offers. A lease off the coast of Louisiana received two bids. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/d354f180850c47c39fecf70ef8b1c3d7/0906%20Wind%20Turbines%20MS%20TT.jpg)
![Equipment, including stacks of large blades, destined for wind farms in the United States, arrive on the docks at the Port of Houston where they wait to be loaded onto trucks for delivery Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 in Houston.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texans asked to conserve power Wednesday for the eighth time this month
The grid operator asked Texans to reduce power use from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to avoid a power-supply emergency. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6b8e1fa5491fba35ea7071302eff7e48/1012%20Sweetwater%20Power%20Lines%20TT%20AG%2001.jpg)
![Near Sweetwater, Texas construction has started on transmission lines that will connect windy regions of the state to its population centers. The total cost of all the lines throughout Texas is estimated at nearly $7 billion.]()
Credit: Axel Gerdau for The Texas Tribune -
Texans asked to reduce energy use again as ongoing heat wave strains power grid
The latest conservation request from ERCOT — the third in the past week — sought to reduce power demand from 3 to 10 p.m. Thursday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/fbb9a855e2d4180a229900efac425b52/0817%20Karnes%20Co%20EH%20TT%2012.jpg)
![An oil rig operates nearby Texas Farm to Market Road 81 Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023 outside of Helena. An explosion of hydrocarbon industry arrived in Karnes County around 2007 upon the discovery of the Eagle Ford Shale, one of the United State’s three largest shales rich in oil and natural gas.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Under new state law, Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers an extra $200 a year
The new registration fee is meant to make up for the state’s lost revenue from gasoline taxes that are used to pay for road construction and maintenance. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/dbe3a650210f35683536553dd455ab49/Tesla%20EV%20REUTERS%2002.jpg)
![While waiting for the battery in his Tesla EV to charge, a traveler cleans the windshield on his vehicle at a service station in Childress on Aug. 23, 2022.]()
Credit: Photo by Steven Clevenger/Sipa USA -
State power grid operator calls on Texans to conserve energy late Sunday
ERCOT asked energy customers to reduce their electricity use from 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday, the third conservation request this year and the second in three days as punishing summer heat continues. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a31d9ccb0d4122417d85ab61e928da41/Drought%20Fires%20Lake%20Travis%20REUTERS%20TT.jpg)
![A boat traveled along Lake Travis during a drought in the summer of 2011. Drier than normal weather in Texas with no precipitation for several months had caused lakes and rivers to run dry.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Lott -
State grid operator asks Texans to reduce energy use Thursday afternoon as demand spikes
This is the second voluntary conservation notice issued this summer by ERCOT, which hopes to lower electricity use and avoid tight grid conditions amid an ongoing heat wave. Full Story
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ environmental agency enables companies to increase oilfield wastewater disposal in rivers
Researchers are still studying the chemical makeup of “produced water” from Permian Basin oil fields. But regulators say they’re ready to issue permits to discharge the water into rivers and creeks. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/825fe931a0a40a5d41a8e73386e7c94a/Fracking%20Water%20TK%20TT.jpg)
![Fracking's water demand requires the construction of ponds like these, which store millions of gallons of fresh water. Aug. 21, 2013.]()
Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The Texas Tribune -
Texas counties don’t have the power to ban solar farms, attorney general finds
The opinion comes as communities across the country fight solar and wind development, which play an important role in slowing climate change but use a lot of land. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/63b8403ccf07bcba8b3e93e91651fdd6/0410%20Mt%20Vernon%20Solar%20Tour%20EL%20TT%2021.jpg)
![Jerry Cooper, County Commissioner District 1 of Franklin County, drives past solar panels near Cunningham on April 10, 2023. "I don't like the term 'solar farm', it feels disingenuous to me," said Cooper, "I realize things are changing, but this feels like an awful fast change."]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
For Texans, fighting state-regulated oilfield waste dumps can be a costly, do-it-yourself effort
Some Texans who challenge oil and gas waste sites must spend significant sums and time on investigating what they say the Texas Railroad Commission should examine. Will new regulations for handling waste increase oversight or just maintain the status quo? Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/67220c7aaa1f4c6fd5dccd0fc7d41943/0302%20Tara%20Jones%2001.jpg)
![Tara Jones, who lives half a mile from the Blackhorn Environmental oil and gas waste facility near Orange Grove, says she spent almost a year learning the state’s regulatory rules and investigating the commercial dumping operation.]()
Credit: Jason Buch/Public Health Watch -
Texas sues Shell over Houston-area chemical fire in May
The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages, claiming the three-day blaze at Shell’s Deer Park facility caused air and water pollution that violated state law. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b4b5aad347d71be969d14f43c6395a04/0505%20Shell%20Deer%20Park%20Fire%20MF%20TT%2001.jpg)
![Deer Park, Texas: An overhead view of an explosion at a Shell USA Inc. facility on May 5, 2023 in Deer Park, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/d782f5a025d44aa42391ff8a9c7f9ae3/Seaholm%20Power%20Plant%202%20SP%20TT%2002)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5b94e9cda03d1d6e8f8361e964fcace4/Seaholm%20Power%20Plant%202%20SP%20TT%2012)