texas

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Renewables Save Texans Money as Coal and Gas Prices Soar

    Renewables Save Texans Money as Coal and Gas Prices Soar

    Texas is often associated with fossil fuels, especially oil. But it turns out a greener kind of energy is saving the state’s customers a significant amount of money.  A new report from IdeaSmiths LLC found that wind and solar had generated as much as $106 billion in savings and benefits in Texas between 2010 and […]

    Texas the Biggest Culprit in Toxic Waterway Discharge in U.S., Report Finds

    Texas the Biggest Culprit in Toxic Waterway Discharge in U.S., Report Finds

    A new report from nonprofit Environment America analyzed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data and found that Texas is the No. 1 state in the U.S. for discharging of toxic pollutants into streams, rivers and lakes.  Environment America has been producing the report since 2009. Since the first analysis of the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory […]

    Lights Go Out as Texas Meteorologist Warns of Strain on Power Grid

    Lights Go Out as Texas Meteorologist Warns of Strain on Power Grid

    It’s a common joke that the weather report is always wrong, but a Texas meteorologist had the opposite experience last Wednesday when reporting on an ongoing heat wave. During a 3 p.m. broadcast, KTRK in Houston meteorologist Travis Herzog warned about how the high temperatures could impact the power grid. 

    Texas Farmers and Ranchers Are Embracing Renewable Energy

    Texas Farmers and Ranchers Are Embracing Renewable Energy

    Among the things that are bigger in Texas is the number of reasons why farmers and ranchers there are embracing renewable energy, the Financial Times reports. The largest renewable energy producer in the country (and if the secessionist movement had its way, would be the fifth-largest wind energy producing country in the world) is also […]

    Top Cancerous Air Pollution Sites in U.S. Revealed

    Top Cancerous Air Pollution Sites in U.S. Revealed

    An extensive analysis by ProPublica reveals a detailed map of more than 1,000 American communities that are hotspots for carcinogenic air pollution. The worst three are in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” five of the top 20 are in Texas, and predominantly Black areas experience double the cancer risk of white areas. “Go read this investigation on […]

    Shell’s Permian Basin Sell-Off Unlikely to Reduce Climate Pollution

    Shell’s Permian Basin Sell-Off Unlikely to Reduce Climate Pollution

    Royal Dutch Shell’s sale of all its Permian Basin fracking assets to ConocoPhillips for $9.5 billion may reduce the company’s emissions on paper, but nowhere else, experts say. Shell has come under increasing pressure to reduce its climate pollution, including a landmark ruling from a Dutch court this spring, but selling its Permian oil extraction […]

    Could Solar Power Keep Texas Lights on in Extreme Heat?

    Could Solar Power Keep Texas Lights on in Extreme Heat?

    The Texas power grid is expected to see its highest power demand of 2021 this week with extreme heat expected there and across the country. The intense power demands raise concerns over the grid’s ability to keep the lights on after thousands were plunged into deadly blackouts in February following the failure of the gas […]